Some good news for some

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

From election day on there have been massive amounts of analysis on midterm elections, why control of Congress changed and what it all means.

It's not always apparent why voters act as they do, even with exit polls and other public opinion polls taken seemingly every minute to learn public attitudes - plus or minus three or four percent - about everything imaginable. Add to that the difficulty of sorting the why from the spin that pundits on all sides apply to the results.

But one thing is absolutely clear: Catholic Democrats had plenty to cheer about from some of the election results. In numerous Congressional races, Democrats who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage were elected.

That was significant for several reasons. It shows that the party was willing to recruit conservative Democrats. Plus, voters - both Democrats in the primaries and the overall electorate in the general election - were willing to elect these candidates to office.

Many Catholic Democrats left their party during the Reagan presidency because of the party's policies on abortion. Others have stayed, despite feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome because of those policies. They now have reason to hope. Only time will tell if that hope is justified.