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MICHIGAN: RELIGIOUS VOTERS [David Hogberg 10/28 03:20 PM]

Hat tip to Moses Fridman of Jews for George for sending me some photos of the Bush rally in Michigan yesterday. Looks like a very good turnout.

Here is an email from another Michigan reader about the religious angle:

Cardinal Maida along with the Bishops from the Lansing and northern Michigan Dioceses sent out a letter last week reminding all Michigan Catholics of the ballot initiative to define marriage in the State Constitution, the Church's position on Life and the responsibility of Catholics to defend those positions publicly through the voting process. They did not endorse a specific candidate, but endorsed positions — right to Life and in favor of the marriage amendment. Simultaneously, Right to Life Michigan sent out fliers spelling out the candidate positions on Life issues and endorsing President Bush — again Michigan Catholic households have been targeted. And, Bush-Cheney 04 began running "Values war" radio ads in the Michigan market. Finally, today, for the first time, I heard an ad with a voice over from a Black Baptist minister (from Detroit, I think) endorsing President Bush and criticizing Kerry's "anti-family" record, in particular his votes against parental notification laws and the ban on partial birth abortion. There is a concerted effort to get the Michigan "values" voter to the polls. Cardinal Maida is a potent political force; most of the time he is quiet but firm in his positions. Sometimes, he's quite vocal, like when he took on Jack Kevorkian and crushed the Right to Die ballot initiative a couple of years ago. This year, the Church has been quite vocal about the responsibility each Catholic has to defend the Church's positions on the issues and to vote. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. It could backfire; Michigan Catholics could vote for the state marriage amendment and Kerry, but I don't think that will happen in large numbers. The message coordination is really strong and appears to be spearheaded by personalities associated with Michigan Catholic Radio.