When Joe Biden was named as Senator Obama's pick for Vice-President there was hope, but no assurance, that he would bring in Catholic votes. It now seems that Biden is effective at that goal, as well as bringing in blue collar voters. It is possible that recent movement towards Obama by Catholic and blue collar voters is due to other factors, such as Hillary Clinton supporters moving towards Obama. But Biden, an Irish-American Catholic from Scranton, PA, has been well received in the state of his birth. Obama had been polling a small but consistent lead in that state. With Biden on the ticket, even many Republican strategists admit that its 21 electoral votes will go to Obama. The only remaining question is will Obama-Biden have to fight in Pennsylvania up to election day, or will they be able to re-direct resources elsewhere.
Professor Michael Lindsay of Rice University in Houston told Reuters "If we just focus on the religious element, adding Biden to the Democratic ticket was an extremely smart move. Biden has ties in a very important swing state, Pennsylvania, where Catholics are the biggest constituency whose votes are up for grabs."
McCain has done very little to reach out to Catholic voters. He has strong support among white Republican Catholic political operatives like Deal Hudson and Bill Donohue, but their reach is limited to white Catholics who are already strong conservatives (some of their supporters would disagree with that, but only because they insist that people who disagree with their politics "are not Catholic."). Rounding up the votes of these hard conservative white Catholics is not a tough task. Tending towards the affluent, they usually don't have the work and family problems lower income Catholics do in getting to the polls. Strongly pro-life but opposed to most every other public policy issue the bishops have taken a stance on, the greatest worry is that they might vote for a right wing third party.
Obama has a counterbalancing element of support among liberal, Hispanic and African-American Catholics. Left up for grabs are moderate Catholics, particularly those who are pro-life and supportive of the Church's peace and social justice initiatives. The absence of any outreach to this element by McCain or conservative Catholics has given Obama an opening. Biden more moderate stand on abortion -- supporting social support for women in crisis pregnancies in the first trimester and legal restrictions on abortion in the late term -- appeals to these conflicted Catholics.
Biden is already pulling in previously undecided Catholic support in Ohio and Michigan. Ohio, with 20 electoral votes is expected to be very close. While in Michigan the UAW will be working for the Obama-Biden ticket, the Bush White House is heavily pressuring McCain to pick Romney has his Vice-Presidential candidate. Romney, son of a Michigan governor, could offset Michigan Catholic votes Biden brings on.
White Catholics in St. Louis and Denver have shown a slight movement towards the Democrats from 4 years ago (even though -- or maybe because of -- the hard line Republican archbishops in these cities). The only Hispanics on the National McCain Catholic Advisory Committee are Cuban-Americans from Florida. Hispanics are a majority of Catholics in three western swing states (CO, NM, and NV) and strongly inclined towards Obama-Biden.
12 comments:
Roman Catholics cannot support a candidate who is not only for abortion but who has supported (in his vote and chairmanship in the Illinois legislature) legalized infanticide... allowing a baby after birth to die without any medical attention simply because he is not wanted by his mother. How you can support him under the name "Catholic" is beyond me, but you should be warned of the scandal which you are involved in. It is sickening, and you should remove it from the internet.
As a practicing and very active lifelong Catholic and Democrat, I'm appalled at Nancy Pelosi's recent comments on abortion and stunned that neither Obama or Biden bring any moral clarity to this issue. I am very fruhstrated that I can't cast a vote within my own party and also remain true to the god's law. Being so out of sync with right and wrong, moral and immoral is hard for me and I'm about to re-register as an independant so I can vote and feel right about it.
Joe Biden is from my old parish, St. Paul's in Scranton. Good luck Joe!!
Obama will restore respect for America in the world and Biden will help with the nuts and bolts of diplomacy. We need a responsible withdrawal from Iraq, not 100 years more of occupation like McCain wants.
Pennsylvania Catholics are Casey Democrats. They don't like abortion and they don't like policies that favor the rich over the poor and the middle class and they don't like reckless warmongering. If McCain had shown some minimal respect for these Catholic's concerns about war and economic justice, he could win the state. But given he is odds with Pennsylvania Catholics on these issues and never speaks about the abortion issue (except to send signals to Clinton supporters that he is pro-choice), Obama will win Pennsylvania.
Liked Biden's line last Sat. when he said his wife was drop dead gorgeous! This will endear him to all the women voters and we all know McCain the womanizer would have never said anything like that to his first wife.
So let's recap, McCain cheated on and dumped his first wife after she was disfigured in a car accident for a good looking second wife whose family fortune financed his political campaign and paid for her/their seven houses/condos. That smoothy McCain.
And Biden remarried (5) years after his first wife and daughter died in a car accident and still takes a (2) hr train ride home most every night to see his family and is one of three senators who aren't millionaires.
take care, blessings
With anonymous, I found myself terribly frustrated by these national figures who are intentionally working to distort the Churches teachings to further their political agendas. I have not been faithful to the Catholic way of thinking my entire life but now in my forties, find the Catechism to be a beautiful explanation as to how we as Catholics are called to be people of life. That being said the support of an intrinsic evil such as abortion or the destruction of the sacrament of marriage is grievous and we need more Bishops like ArchBishop Chaput to step out with the moral clarity to denounce the recent statements made by Nancy Pelosi and the like. Joe Biden must also as a practicing Catholic cease to work to enshrine this ideology into our laws. God help us please!
The party for practising Catholics is the Republican Party . Only faulty Catholics are selected by the Democrats . Practising Catholics need not apply . Senator Casey is a token .
Oh, Shiloh, let's canonize the plagerizer.
James is so right. This web sight is an abomination and a complete disgrace.
Senator Biden was welcomed at mass today at St. Brendan's parish in Ohio.
SENATOR OBAMA, PLEASE TELL AMERICA YOUR FEELINGS ON THIS US JUDICIAL INJUSTICE ???
LETS ALL HOPE OUR MEDIA FRIENDS ALSO CONTINUE TO SHOW AN INTEREST
IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS)
FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS POSSIBLE FUTURE
PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA’S
LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????
**WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR
OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO
KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW
THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL HORROR
CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES AND
THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????
*** WHEN GOD’S FACE BECAME VERY RED ***
THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS
LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS
(MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL
REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN
AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????
**** INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS !
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE
CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY
JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.
****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY ****
The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent
Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000
total US prison population nationwide.
Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal
appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively
closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever
being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their
freedom through being granted new retrials.
This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern
States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being
falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational
skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.
This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and
innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal
legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is
still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system
knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands
of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities
of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!
Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when
any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to
submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide)
without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in
reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus and will
win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!
For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free
World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity
for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays
the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal
appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.
It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality
in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also
some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a
waste of taxpayers $$.
This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World!
***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY!
A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
1) YAHOO AND 2) GOOGLE
MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.
** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com (424-247-2013)
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