In 2004, I ran the field operations for Catholics Against Kerry (CaK). We worked hard at the grassroots level in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico, among other states. During the last 10 days of the campaign, we saturated the Youngstown, Ohio/New Castle, Pennsylvania area with dozens of radio spots every day that brought home the point that John Kerry was a phony “Catholic” who supported abortion on demand. The political wisdom about Youngstown’s importance to the final tally in Ohio is that a Democrat MUST get more than 65% in Youngstown, or he will not win Ohio. Al Gore got 65% in 2000 and lost. Our efforts moved Kerry down to 63%, and he lost Ohio by almost exactly what he lost Youngstown by.
The fact that no Democrat has ever lost the Catholic vote and won the Presidency is well known to the political community. This is why up to now, they have lied about where the Catholic vote is. Being Democrats of course, they have overplayed their hand. Some polls actually showed that gay “marriage” was favored by 15% among mass-attending Catholics. But that has finally changed: a new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Pol shows Mitt Romney now winning Catholics in general. But far more importantly, Romney is leading among adherent Catholics who attend Mass regularly by a huge 59/36. This represents a 22 point improvement over the 50/49 edge with adherent Catholics John McCain received in 2008.
This turnaround has not “just happened.” It is the product of a huge outreach to Catholics, especially adherent Catholics across the country and especially in the “swing states.”
In Ohio, Catholic groups have been executing a plan that will see them contact these Mass-attending Catholics 6 times before Election Day. Catholic college students will be knocking on the door of every Catholic family in Ohio. They will be handing these families a score card similar to the ones our CaK field workers handed out. The material will show that it is Mitt Romney, not Barack Obama, whose values more closely align with those of the Catholic Church. Meaningful references to “religious freedoms” and Romney’s pro-life stances are included to help make the point.
Catholics have not “finally come around” as some would have us believe; they were always “there” and were never going to vote for Obama. What a difference an honest poll can produce!
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