Author:
Publication: Catholic World News
Date: April 25, 2001
The Republican Party on Tuesday
launched a new campaign to reach out to Catholic voters, a group that was
evenly split in last year's presidential elections.
Republicans will visit key states
with large Catholic populations and potential GOP voting blocs, such as
Pennsylvania and Michigan, to establish a network of Catholic leaders who
will work on the grass-roots level.
The plan was revealed by Republican
National Committee Chairman Jim Gilmore in a speech at the party's National
Catholic Leadership Forum in Washington. "In order to maintain and build
on our recent successes, we must continually reach out and develop new
relationships to make our ranks grow," he said in a videotaped presentation.
The party has formulated a new plan
to reach out to minority and other groups that may not have been traditionally
thought to be a natural Republican constituency, including Hispanics, blacks,
and Catholics.
In the new outreach to Catholics,
the local "team leaders" are asked to participate in conference calls with
policy-makers, provide the e-mail addresses of 10 fellow Republicans, call
local talk-radio programs, recruit additional "team leaders," and forward
Republican e-mails to five of their friends.
Republicans will hold their next
Catholic event in Pittsburgh on May 3, followed by one in Michigan on a
day to be announced. We're going to battleground counties as well," said
Ana Gamonal, who is coordinating the RNC's outreach to Catholics. "Religiously
active Catholics should naturally be voting Republican," she said.