The McCain campaign created a firestorm by arranging for a conference call with conservative Catholic reporters that had Frank Donatelli, the Deputy Chairman of the Republican National Committee, announcing the campaign’s Catholic outreach plans. Donatelli, contrary to many of the self-described “orthodox’ Catholic reporters, believes that supporting a pro-choice candidate is possible for a faithful Catholic.

Sending in a man who is a “dissenter” in the minds of these reporters as well as by the standards set by the editorial policies of their publications was a major “faux pas” by the McCain campaign. In Donatelli’s case, this is not just a matter of theory. Donatelli claims to be a Catholic but has supported pro-abortion rights candidates on more than a dozen occasions.

Calls to both the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee have gone unreturned, indicating their shame over this potential disaster in their attempt to reach out to conservative Catholics.

The McCain campaign has stumbled several times in attempts to reach out to Catholics. Unlike Senator Obama, McCain seems uncomfortable speaking about his faith and even had problems indicating what denomination he belonged to. He accepted and then rejected the endorsement of an anti-Catholic minister and has done few events to reach out to Catholic voters. The Obama campaign has a Catholic Advisory Committee that meets weekly, a full time Catholic Outreach Director and several devout Catholics working to win over Catholic votes including former Congressman Tim Roemer of Indiana.

Conservative Catholics have had difficulties winning over mainstream Catholic voters to McCain because of such issues as Iraq, justice for the poor and the rights of workers to join unions. McCain’s support for ESCR and allowing the states to decide about gay marriage has not pleased conservative Catholics.

Conservative political operatives have therefore banked on the issue of telling pro-life Catholics they must vote on the abortion issue only and to do otherwise is a sin (currently half of Catholics and one-third of pro-lifers say they plan to vote for Obama). This strategy was not helped by putting Frank Donatelli forward to announce McCain’s Catholic outreach plans.

With one of the highest political operatives in the McCain campaign a Catholic who believes Catholics can support pro-abortion candidates, it is hard to see how this firestorm can be put out.

Abortion is press-shorthand for “Catholic issues”. Israel is press-shorthand for “Jewish issues.”

My point was that it’s a lot more complex than that. But 50% of American Catholic voters having abortion as the key issue is a large figure, no matter what, considering, how much smaller the figure is in so many officially and notionally Catholic countries in the rest of the world.

I don’t doubt your perception or your sincerity, but if 50% of 40mm people feel a certain way, it can feel an awful lot like 100% on the ground.

Not exactly - because the swing part of the Catholic vote is Catholics who attend Mass regularly…that was the vote which went majority for Gore in 2000 and majority fo Bush in 2004 and which both McCain and Obama very much want in 2008. A very large portion of Bush’s victory margin in 2004 was the fact that devout Catholics swung over to him from 2000 and, indeed, there is a good argument to be made that without this swing, Ohio - and the White House - would have been lost.

Non-devout Catholics vote pretty much like non-devout Protestants - and thus Obama pretty much has them in the bag…but devout Catholics are a more tricky matter…yep, we’re very interested in a lot of social issues…help the poor, ya know? But with devout Catholics you can’t for a moment think that abortion doesn’t ride very high…I know you can find a lot of Catholic voices who will say they don’t hold abortion to be as big an issue as, say, feeding the hungry…but in trying to win the devout, it matters a great deal. Trust me on this one - the anti-war Catholic could very well vote for McCain on the Culture of Life vs culture of death issue (which, by the way, the abortion issue is only a party).

You grow up in NYC knowing the nuanaces of High Church White Protestantism, Black Baptists and AME, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, NOI, Chinese Buddhism and all secular variants including Atheism.

Those votes tend to split in ways peculiar to geographical area and which issues the respective voters find most important and how those voters’ issues dovetail with the platforms, rhetoric and parties of the candidates.

There are actually only two religions in NYC: the Yankees and the Mets.

We both know how self-identified voters of all of thse religions and their subsets will vote. McCain can do all the “outreach” he wants but the Catholic vote is still going to split 50-50, McCain gets those who identify abortion as a key issue. Obama will get those who identify as neutral on abortion and anti-war. They fight over the handful that remain.

The “Catholic” vote has been a bit of a mine-field for both candidates when it really shouldn’t have been. They’ll cut it up 50-50 between them and fight the more crucial battles in other segments.

For once you are right, neocon. There will be fireworks in Denver at Invesco field right after Barack Hussein Obama accepts the nomination before an overflow crowd of 80 000 cheering supporters! We hear Zambelli will be providing the works.

And who will have the honor of introducing him? None other than the Big Dog himself William Jefferson Clinton.

I’ve heard rumors…

How can you stand to be either that entirely ignorant, or that willing a liar?

I believe Hillary is working feverishly behind the scenes for one last chance at the nomination. There will be fireworks in Denver this summer.

Pass the popcorn.
peace, neocon