Last night’s True Blood introduced some new elements of the vampire political system, which we have all certainly been dying to explore, and indicated that there are vampires who are religious fundamentalists, which again, let this itch not go unscratched. According to Blood’s creator and executive producer Alan Ball, this season in general and Christopher Meloni’s character in particular were inspired by the Republican primaries. Ball tells the Wrap that this season’s “jumping off point†was “watching Michele Bachman, Rick Santorum, and asking what would it be like to have a theocracy in America,†which he says “is way more terrifying than any fictional monster could ever be.†Thus, vampiric Biblical literalism. “The governing body of vampires is like the Catholic church plus the Supreme Court for vampires,†Ball explains. Oh sure, it sounds interesting when you say it like that.