Regarding mixing religion and politics, I have a story to tell that might be enlightening.

This happened in 1990, when Paul Wellstone was first running for the US Senate in Minnesota against the incumbent, Rudy Boschwitz. Both Wellstone and Boschwitz were Jewish. No one had made an issue of religion until the last days of the campaign. Then Boschwitz asked some of his prominent Jewish friends to sign a letter supporting him. Many agreed and gave him copies of their signature without seeing the letter. Then Boschwitz drafted a letter saying that Boschwitz was a better Jew than Wellstone. (Wellstone was not a regularly practicing Jew. His wife was not Jewish and his children were not being brought up Jewish.) Boschwitz obtained a mailing list of Jewish names and sent out the letter.

Then the shit hit the fan. To their immense credit (in my opinion) several of the "signers" of the letter publicly denounced it, saying they regretted giving Boschwitz permission to use their signatures.

One of them said (I'm paraphrasing from memory here) that Jews had been the victims of religious discrimination so often in the past that it was doubly wrong for them to practice it.

The backlash was huge, and Wellstone won the election.

Catholics who would consider using similar tactics against Kerry should take warning from this.