Poll Reveals Broad Support for Government Health Care

Two candidates are basically sharing first place at this point

(NEWSER) - Three polls, three declarations about Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum: virtual tie, statistical tie, and essential tie. According to Pew , Gallup , and the New York Times/CBS News , Romney officially has some company at the top following Santorum's wins in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri :

• Pew's poll, released yesterday, puts Santorum at 30% to Romney's 28% among Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters. Santorum easily captures the top spot among Tea Party Republican voters (42% to 23%) and evangelical Republican voters (41% to 23%). One bright spot for Romney: 70% of his supporters believe the GOP would back him if he becomes the nominee; only 54% of Santorum's supporters feel the same.

President's compromise is still 'unacceptable'

(NEWSER) - It seemed at first that Catholic bishops would be on board with President Obama's tweak on contraception coverage, with an initial statement calling it "a first step in the right direction." They made clear last night, however, that they're still not happy, reports the Wall Street Journal . The bishops registered "serious moral concerns" over parts of the administration's plan, complaining that it still has a "national mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception," reports Politico . More»

'Religious liberty will be protected,' he says

(NEWSER) - As expected , President Obama today offered what the White House is calling an "accommodation" on a controversial birth-control policy. Religious employers such as the Catholic Church will no longer be required to offer free contraception to workers as part of their health insurance. Instead, that coverage will come directly from health insurance companies, notes the Washington Post . The plan is similar to those in several states, including Hawaii, adds the New York Times . The question now is whether the move will be enough to tamp down the political firestorm. More»

Gail Collins doesn't think new rules are impinging on religious freedom

(NEWSER) - The furor over President Obama's decision to force Catholic employers to provide health care that covers contraceptives brought a story to mind for Gail Collins. Her mother-in-law once told her that, when she'd confessed to a priest she was using birth control, he replied, "You're no better than a whore on the street." These days the clergy is less judgmental, but the story shows "why bishops are not the only Roman Catholics who are touchy about the issue of contraception," she writes in the New York Times . More»

His decision on birth control and Catholics will haunt him: Peggy Noonan

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney's "inept" line about not being concerned about the poor generated most of the headlines, but it was nowhere near the biggest political gaffe of the week, writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal . That would be President Obama's decision to require Catholic institutions to cover birth control in employee health plans. How big of a gaffe? "President Obama just may have lost the election," she writes. More»