The other day an acquaintance in Michigan explained to me that religion had become an issue in the US election because “Muslims like Barack Obama were running.” Where did this ordinary, affable American get the idea that Oprah Winfrey’s favourite Democrat was a Muslim?

From the media, actually.

A few days, earlier, right-wing outlets like Fox News, the New York Post, and the Glenn Beck Program on CNN had claimed that Obama had been schooled at a “madrassa” – a Muslim religious school.

The implication was clear. He wasn’t the nice young fellow you saw on TV but a violent jihadist. Why, his name even rhymed with “Osama”!

Something similar’s been taking place in the Republican campaign, with frontrunner Mike Huckabee providing a masterclass in launching whispering campaigns. Most recently, in a conversation with the New York Times, Huckabee innocently inquired: ‘”Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

That would be Mormons rather like Huckabee’s main rival, Mitt Romney. One imagines that, if Obama can be successfully tarred as an Islamist, fearful believers across the country already picture the former Massachusetts Governor consorting with demons.

Yet, as a number of commentators have pointed out, the same NYT interview raises fascinating questions about Huckabee’s own religious affiliations. Specifically, it reveals that he’s just been endorsed by Tim LaHaye.

Tim Lawho? LaHaye shot to fame as the author of Left Behind novels, airport-style thrillers set during the apocalypse. The books have sold gazillions of copies to fundamentalist Christians, spawning movies, children’s books and, most recently, a video game in which players rampage through New York, gunning down anyone who refuses to embrace gentle Jesus.

But the Left Behind books are not just about loopy theology. They’re also about loopy politics. In LaHaye’s world, the Antichrist takes the form of the secretary-general of the United Nations, the Iraq war represents the first stages in the battle between Satan and JC, and the destruction of the Palestinian Authority was ordained by scripture.

LaHaye’s currently helping organize Mike Huckabee’s campaign, setting up special meetings for him in three states with an influential audience of specially selected pastors. So, as Jonathan Zimmerman notes, “it’s perfectly fair to ask whether Huckabee sees eye to eye with LaHaye.”

After all, some Americans might even prefer a Muslim to a would-be President who considers himself actively working to hasten the end of the world.