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- NATION, Page 49American NotesCALIFORNIAThe Bishop Picks a Winner
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- Until last week it seemed nothing short of a miracle would
- enable a Democrat to win a state senate seat from San Diego's
- heavily Republican 39th District. But that was before Roman
- Catholic Bishop Leo Maher ordered that Democratic candidate
- Lucy Killea, 67, be refused Communion because of her pro-choice
- views on abortion. Though Maher declared that his action was
- "more pastoral than political," it quickly became the most
- important issue in the campaign. Riled by the bishop's
- intervention, voters gave Killea a 51%-to-49% upset victory over
- state legislator Carol Bentley in a special election.
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- Declared Kate Michelman, executive director of the National
- Abortion Rights Action League: "The bishop shot himself in the
- foot."
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