Morality plays

Religion: What do Mormons, Catholics, and Jews have in common? They’ll each play a vital role in swing states come Nov. 4 | Jamie Dean

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Douglas Kmiec is a Catholic with a political twist: He sports serious conservative credentials and is campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama.

The chairman of constitutional law at Pepperdine University served as legal counsel to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and once shared an office with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Earlier this year, the pro-life Kmiec volunteered for the presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney. He's voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968.

In less than a month, Kmiec plans to break his GOP streak and vote for Obama. He's touring swing states with the campaign and asking Catholics to support the Democrat. Kmiec told WORLD that Obama's positions on issues like ending the war and promoting tax policy that he says will "look out for the poor and disadvantaged" come closer to Catholic ideals than do the plans of Sen. John McCain. Other Catholics have severely criticized Kmiec for campaigning for a candidate extremely supportive of abortion's legal status.