The last election was not won by "moral values". It was won by propaganda.
Surely that's too extreme, you say. Both sides do it.
Here are a few basic propaganda devices, as identified by the Institute for Proganda Analysis.
See if you recognize them.
• Name calling
Name calling, or labeling, links a person or an idea to a negative interpretation.
Commie. Pinko. Fascist. Terrorist.
Adjectives or phrases are often added to provide more weight.
Bleeding heart. Tax and Spend. Social engineering.
• The Glittering Generality
Words are used that imply cherished virtues of significant emotion.
Democracy, Patriotism. Christianity. Family Values.
Name Calling is effective because it rejects and condemns without examining the evidence. The Glittering Generality works just the opposite. It seeks to make us approve and accept without examining the evidence.
• Transfer is when institutions or symbols that hold authority, prestige, and cultural sanction are attached to particular ideas.
The Flag. God. Science. Morality. Life.
Plain Folks is when a speaker identifies himself with "ordinary" people, and brands his opponent as being out of touch or elitist.
• Fear
Warnings are made of disastrous consequences if a particular course of action is not followed. Fear is a powerful way of manipulating the audience's emotion. The most effective fear campaigns also provide a remedy, a simple action to avert the disaster.
• Bandwagon
Here one evokes the fear we all have of being different or left behind, and works on our need to follow the crowd. Polls are one such method of influence, and why they are so popular.

"All of the artifices of flattery are used to harness the fears and hatreds, prejudices and biases, convictions and ideals common to a group. Thus is emotion made to push and pull us..."
-Institute for Propaganda Analysis

Much of the media has happily followed along without questioning the pundits and soothsayers. The media falls for a glittering generality like "moral values" and then hops into a bandwagon- rather than use it's power to deflate myths, inject some healthy skepticism, research the facts or refuse to pander to unanswerable speculations.
That's dangerous for democracy. Very very dangerous.
To keep sane, here's a few excellent articles, new links, and some actions you can take.
The inimitable Maureen Dowd,
A Moveable Feast of Terrorism
Jesse Jackson deconstructs Moral Values
No GOP Monopoly on God
Actions you can take today.
Petition to investigate the vote.
Petition the news media for balanced coverage of the Iraq war.