Here’s the New Republic endorsement.
WHITE CATHOLICS SHIFT: A new poll shows a huge swing toward Kerry among white Catholics. Money quote:
A Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday has Kerry winning among white Catholics 50% – 43% — a huge change from the October 3 poll which had Bush leading 49% to 33%. By comparison, George Bush beat Al Gore among white Catholics by about seven points.
Other polls have picked this up as well – and it seems to have been particularly strong after the debates. Why? Steve Waldman offers some thoughts. My own hunch is that undecided Catholics have been repulsed by the way in which the hierarchy has intervened in this election, and the outrageous notion that voting for one candidate can amount to a sin worthy of confession. Catholics know what is appropriate in politics, they know how they feel about the moral standing of the current hierarchy, and they can vote freely in a secular democracy. I also feel that the overtly evangelical cast of the Bush campaign is off-putting to some. Karl Rove, who made winning white Catholics a critical part of his electoral strategy, may have flunked. But we’ll see on election day, won’t we?
The Dish 