Faith in Spotlight, Candidates Battle for Catholic Votes

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Faith in Spotlight, Candidates Battle for Catholic Votes
By ROBIN TONER
Published: April 15, 2008

WASHINGTON — Many years have passed since the Democratic Party was as much a part of American Catholic identity as weekly Mass and parochial school. But it still came as a shock to many Democrats to lose the Catholic vote, a key group in must-win states like Ohio, in the 2004 presidential election. It is an experience they are determined not to repeat.

The presidential candidates are in the middle of an escalating battle for Catholic voters — most immediately between Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, but also between the two parties as they look ahead to the general election. This struggle is an important part of the backdrop for Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the United States starting Tuesday, which has drawn gestures of respect from all of the presidential contenders.

There is widespread agreement that American Catholic voters are far more diverse than monolithic. Even so, both the Clinton and the Obama campaigns have hired Catholic outreach directors, deployed an army of prominent Catholic surrogates testifying on their behalf and created mailings that highlight their commitment to Catholic social teachings on economic justice and the common good.

Dismayed at losing so many Catholic and other religious voters to the Republicans in 2004, Democrats talk far more often, and more comfortably, about their values and the importance of their own faith these days.

Essentially, they have tried to broaden the definition of “values” issues beyond abortion rights, on which they disagree with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and many religious conservatives. Mrs. Clinton, for example, spoke recently about the economy and the needs of working families to a crowd of more than 2,000 at Mercyhurst, a Catholic college in Erie, Pa. The college and the candidate went ahead with the event despite the objections of the local bishop, who argued that a Catholic institution should reflect the church’s “pro-life stance” on abortion....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/us/politics/15catholics.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

[GreenStates]

1. Obama

Jihad

[katherine20]

2. Catholics for Obama

The DNC also has a full time Catholic Outreach Coordinator.

The Obama campaign is doing a great job reaching out to Catholics (www.catholicsforobama.blogspot.com). Ethel Kennedy, Sen. Bob Casey, Gov. Tim Kaine and Vicky Reggie Kennedy have been out on the stump for Obama to Catholic audiences.