President Bush's meeting with the Pope "could cut both ways politically," the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reports.
"The president, hoping to blunt Kerry's edge among fellow Roman Catholics, welcomes the session with the aging pontiff. It also highlights the Catholic leader's opposition to the Iraq war and his veiled criticism of 'how dignity is profoundly offended' by Abu Ghraib abuses."
A must-read Knight Ridder piece notes Catholics are "the country's largest religious denomination, 65 million strong. They're a major presence in election-battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. And they're split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, the only denomination so closely divided."