Dole Courts The Catholic Vote

By Candy Crowley/CNN

WASHINGTON (May 24) -- Bob Dole was as calm as Bill Clinton was exercised in the continuation of the debate over partial-birth abortions (96K WAV sound).

"He is out on the fringe, subscribing to abortion on demand," a calm Dole said of the president's veto of a bill that would ban the controversial procedure. "And now he is upset about it. I think what he should do is just admit he made a mistake, and urge the Congress to override his veto."

The sheer velocity of the president's words threw the abortion issue back into the headlines. But in fact, abortion was not really the top agenda item during Dole's day trip to the north.

Looking to strengthen his appeal among Catholic voters, Dole dropped into Philadelphia for some flesh pressing, a chat and a picture with the region's Catholic leader. Later, in a speech designed to soften the perception of Republicans as heartless budget cutters, Dole told members of the Catholic media that the alternative to cold bureaucracy is not indifference.

"I do not believe in the hard philosophy of sink or swim -- the survival of the fittest-- because that was not the way my community treated me," Dole said Thursday (128K WAV sound).

Citing Social Security, food stamps and the Americans with Disabilities Act as legitimate federal roles, Dole said restoring the spirit of America is a task best left to families, churches and other community-based groups.

Dole said, as president, he would move to bolster the work of anti-poverty organizations -- private or church-based -- by allowing Americans to earmark up to $500 of their taxes to private or religious charities (192K WAV sound).

"The goal," Dole said, "is to get funding and authority into the hands of institutions that reclaim lives. It would present Americans with a stark choice. Give your money to the Department of Housing and Urban development, or give it to Habitat for Humanity."

Values, morality and character are central themes in the Dole campaign, and while Dole has said he will talk about his own character and not President Clinton's, Thursday he came close. "In some ways, we have an administration that reflects the most troubling features of our culture," Dole said. "An administration that seems to believe in everything and nothing."

Dole's Pennsylvania platform was a deliberate pick. Up to 30 percent of voters this fall will be Catholic, and many of them are concentrated in electoral heavy states, in the Midwest and in Pennsylvania.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Early Edition."

Dole Courts The Catholic Vote

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