Our editorial “No Deal, Rudy” got a significant amount of attention last week.

Popular national radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham read portions of it on her program. Fox News quoted from it on its website. Talk-show host Sean Hannity argued against its premise on his own show.

We are glad that the Register is making an impact, especially in an area that is so vital.

The political cycle has been sped up. This is unfortunate for those of us who would like to focus on something other than politics. However, it is still early enough that insistent voices can have a big impact.

This is the stage of the political race where the various party leaders release “trial balloons” to see how people will react. Whenever the “pro-abortion” trial balloon is sent up, Catholics need to make it clear that we will under no circumstances compromise the right to life.

The U.S. bishops have echoed Vatican guidelines for Catholics who vote.

“In protecting human life, ‘We must begin with a commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the killing, of any innocent human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled or desperate that life may seem’,” says the U.S. bishops’ document “Faithful Citizenship.” “As we wrote in ‘Living the Gospel of Life,’ ‘Abortion and euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human life and dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental good and the condition for all others.’”

Count on the Register to stay focused on this fundamental issue.