And he is a far better bet than Gore to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court, an important issue to pro-life voters. Sure, we would hear the usual complaining from Gary Bauer , James Dobson and others, as well as the usual threats that religious conservatives will stay home rather than vote for a Bush-Ridge ticket. But we heard that in 1980, when Ronald Reagan selected the other George Bush for his running mate, and conservatives stuck with Reagan. Now, if you want, you're free to believe that conservatives are just plain stupid or that they would prefer to vote against their own interests just to punish Bush for selecting Ridge. It just won't happen in big numbers.
Catholics are neither a homogeneous bloc nor automatically motivated by their church's orthodoxy.
And only 23 percent of Catholics said religion should have a larger role in politics, compared to 48 percent of fundamentalists and 30 percent of all voters. Catholics simply don't display the kind of religious bloc voting that should scare off Bush. Nationally, a slight majority of Catholics voted Republican in 1994 and 1998, while about 53 percent voted Democratic in 1996, according to Voter News Service exit polls. By the way, Ridge won. In early July, the potential vice president looks far more important than he or she will in the fall.