There was time enough last fall to grow familiar with the phenomenon of campaign aides “frankly” discussing political strategy with the media — divulging upcoming talking points, spin tactics to be employed, the agenda underlying the candidate’s rhetoric — before the candidate delivered those talking points, used those tactics, and spouted that rhetoric, with or without a wink to the reporters who foretold it all. A kind of having one’s cake and eating it too. Giving the stump line to the hoi polloi, but also a nod to the intelligentsia, who aren’t about to suspend their disbelief unless they feel they’ve been given a peak behind the scenes. Is that then the case with the “Intelligent Design” representatives and supporters who told The Washington Post’s Peter Slevin that the creation-evolution debate is simultaneously the new final battlefield of the culture-war and just an exercise in critical thinking; that reasserting God’s role in creation is the first priority of pastors nationwide, and that this is just about having the most inclusive curriculum possible (sex ed. nonapplicable); that the Discovery Institute is funded by activists for “‘total integration of biblical law into our lives,'” and that this isn’t about God at all; that Intelligent Design is employing a brilliant “compromise” strategy that allows them to promote “open debate” on the weaknesses of Darwinism while their 40+ scientists work out the kinks in their theory, so it won’t fail as creationism did, and that they’re shocked at the suggestion that they’re launching some kind of coordinated attack on evolution. The article also offers a good to-date summary of the issue: the 19 states with anti-evolution proposals on the table; the growing roster of the I.D. activist league; the attempts of Rick Santorum and others to advance I.D. through Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” law; and the news that, if you’re a really good I.D.-proponent, like the Kansas Board of Education, you too might qualify for an Intelligent Design Network Inc. “Wedge of Truth” award.