The candidate information was compiled from an extensive survey of candidates conducted by the Maryland Catholic Conference and published in the Catholic Standard, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Scores were determined thus:
topic | question numbers included |
---|---|
reproductive issues | 1,2,3,4 |
death penalty | 5,6 |
education | 9,10 |
health care | 12,13 |
freedom of religion | 10,12 |
social / economic justice | 13,14,15,16,17 |
This survey is inherently biased, in terms of the questions posed to the candidates and the way in which they were worded.
The candidates are running for political office, and what they say in the questions may or may not coincide with actual decisions they have made in the past or actual decisions they will make in the future. Politicans are politicans.
Some questions in the survey are not included here, because I chose not to, or did not have time to include them.
Generally, it appears that the questions were phrased so that "support" coincided with a Catholic viewpoint, and "opposed" was contrary to a a Catholic viewpoint. However, there is no guarantee that a supporting position is necessarily the Catholic position, or that an opposing position is an anti-Catholic position. Questions asked ranged in severity as well as particular methodology. Some questions are omitted precisely because of the dubious value of a supporting or opposing position.