Catholic group issues voter guide

WASHINGTON -- Catholics United, a group of left-leaning lay Catholics, is distributing 30,000 voter guides for the presidential primaries, focusing on early voting states and listing eight issues they say affect human dignity and the "common good."

Major cities in Iowa, which held bipartisan caucuses Jan. 3, and New Hampshire, home to the nation's first primaries this month, received most of the guides, according to Catholics United.

The group says it independently researched the candidates' positions on eight issues, which it lists in the following order: the Iraq war, poverty, abortion, the death penalty, health care, immigration, care for the Earth, and foreign relations. Each candidate's stance is explained in a paragraph.

Joseph Wright, a political scientist and Catholics United board member, said Catholics "will play a pivotal role in determining the outcome of the election given their large share of the electorate in Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire and Nevada."

--Religion News Service

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