http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/ en Copyright 2008 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:39:50 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss click here.]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/09/obama_biden_launch_fall_campai.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/09/obama_biden_launch_fall_campai.php Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:39:50 -0500 Wall Street Journal Conservative-Catholic Voters May Be in Play By DOUGLAS BELKIN May 29, 2008; Page A6 For the first time since the presidential election of 1988, the observant white Catholic vote might be up for grabs this November. Conservative Catholics now appear to be more concerned about the economy and the war in Iraq, and less motivated by abortion, the issue that has long kept the voting bloc aligned with Republicans. The shift may be bad news for Sen. John McCain, but it also poses a challenge for Sen. Barack Obama in some critical swing states where a majority of Catholic voters supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. Since the 1970s, the country's roughly 64 million Catholics have generally voted in line with the nation. Still, some distinct segments of Catholics can swing an election. Among those blocs are the 12 million or so non-Hispanic Catholics who attend weekly Mass. While less-observant Catholics have vacillated between parties and supported John Kerry in 2004, a majority of these traditional Catholics has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1992, says John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In 2004, 62% backed President Bush. This time around, they seem less likely to back a Republican. Tricia Louis, a 43-year-old Republican and mother of four, attends Mass every Sunday near her home in Withamsville, Ohio, about 20 minutes from Cincinnati. She twice voted for Mr. Bush because of his stand against abortion. In March, she cast her ballot for Sen. Clinton. "I didn't think the war would go on as long as it has," Mrs. Louis said. "I still think abortion is murder, but I've known two soldiers who've been killed in Iraq. That's murder, too." Now, she is weighing whether she would vote for Sen. Obama in November and has doubts that he can handle the war -- as well as the economy. Ohio has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000. Last year, 150,000 homes went into foreclosure, and now 1-in-10 residents is collecting food stamps. A Pew poll taken in January 2007 found only 38% of traditional Catholics favored a generic Republican presidential candidate. An August 2007 poll showed them three times as concerned with the economy as social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. "Conservative Catholics are very much in play," Mr. Green says. While Sen. Obama supports abortion rights, he has backed several bills to reduce unintended pregnancies and therefore the need for abortion. His campaign is hoping his record on other issues will carry the day. "He has spent an entire career bringing people together and putting his faith into action, and that's a distinctly Catholic concept," says Joshua DuBois, national director of religious affairs for the Obama campaign. Sen. McCain is still establishing his conservative credentials among the religious right. In a speech at Wake Forest University in North Carolina this month, he assured conservatives he would appoint judges he characterized as strictly faithful to the Constitution, a signal they would be pro-life. For now, wedge issues, like gay marriage and abortion, are taking a back seat, while issues like the war in Iraq, health care for the poor and concerns about the environment are keeping the conservative Catholic vote in play. Even a small shift among Catholics in battleground states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania could swing the election. One of those places is Clermont County, Ohio, where Mrs. Louis lives. Catholics helped push Mr. Bush to a 37,000-vote victory over John Kerry there in 2004. Statewide, where one of every four voters is Catholic, Mr. Bush edged Mr. Kerry by 120,000 votes out of nearly six million cast. In March, the county's turnout was 45%, nearly twice the norm for presidential primaries. Some 4,345 registered Republicans crossed party lines to vote for a Democrat, said Judy Miller, the director of the Clermont County Board of Elections. Sen. Clinton beat Sen. Obama by 6,000 votes of 27,000 Democratic votes cast. In the center of the state, Marion County Republican Committee Chairman John Matthews said he saw similar numbers and estimated one-third of the Republican party-changers were Catholics. "We don't know if Obama is going to pick up those voters or not," Mr. Matthews said. http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/06/the_wall_street_journal_says_c.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/06/the_wall_street_journal_says_c.php Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:55:07 -0500 Read entire article]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/06/john_mccains_ohio_disconnect.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/06/john_mccains_ohio_disconnect.php Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:30:39 -0500 The Catholic Telegraph Letter to the Editor printed April 25, 2008 Chaldean bishop: U.S. accountable for death of Iraqi archbishop, March 21, 2008 Dear Editor, American Catholics need to listen when Pope Benedict XVI strongly denounces the five-year-long Iraqi war, saying it "provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life." Chaldean Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim had said that the U.S. is accountable for the death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho. Like so many dead in Iraq, the death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho sadly demonstrates the hypocrisy of President Bush's "culture of life." The 4000 soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are not a part of this "culture of life." The kidnapping and murder of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho illustrates the mayhem that has been created in Iraq after the invasion. The war was an ill-conceived attempt to spread democracy without any consideration for the cultural consequences in a country of tribal factions -- and in turn, costing so many human lives. President Bush needs to apologize to the world for this invasion and its human toll. I pray that our next president ends this senseless bloodshed and promotes peace within the world. Lisa Schare Chair Catholic Democrats of Ohio]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/05/catholic_democrats_of_ohio_in.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/05/catholic_democrats_of_ohio_in.php Fri, 09 May 2008 15:52:31 -0500 Read more: ]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/03/steve_chabot_r_illinois.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/03/steve_chabot_r_illinois.php Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:44:14 -0500 Read full article]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/02/catholics_a_key_voting_bloc_in.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/02/catholics_a_key_voting_bloc_in.php Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:16:45 -0500 Read entire article:]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/02/war_shadows_the_campaign.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/02/war_shadows_the_campaign.php Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:52:46 -0500 Read more: ]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/02/tortured_ideals.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/02/tortured_ideals.php Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:39:13 -0500 read more: ]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/01/2005_us_census_shows_that_pove.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2008/01/2005_us_census_shows_that_pove.php Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:11:42 -0500 http://www.ohiocathconf.org/statements/1pressbishops%20627.pdf ]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2007/12/news_from_the_bishops_of_ohio.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2007/12/news_from_the_bishops_of_ohio.php Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:37:39 -0500 here.]]> http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2007/12/green_ribbon_campaign_for_a_ne.php http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/OH/2007/12/green_ribbon_campaign_for_a_ne.php Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:36:32 -0500