This issue was picked very carefully. Newt and Rick were placed into a no win situation. Say nothing, and lose the religious vote. Stand with their faith, and lose the female vote. No matter what Rome says, most Catholic women use chemical birth control. Human nature being what it is, everyone wants something for nothing.
The Dems lobbed a grenade into the GOP Race, and it worked. Rick stood by his faith, which I congratulate him for, but he alienated most women. If you don't believe me, look at threads here on FR.
There appears to be the supposition that all Catholic women adhere to the Catholic tradition.
Who knows and I could care less IF Rick Santorum and his wife practiced Catholic tradition... But Rick has what is it 7 children? Now I personally know Catholic women who do not practice Catholic tradition and they go to church more than one time a week, and some are what would be considered 'devoted' Catholics in the traditional sense. Somewhere along the way UNIVERSAL healthcare became Catholic mantra, at least out of the mouths of the priests I have heard describe their doctrine.
Just like Occupy Wall Street was put into motion to politically deal with Mitt Romney representing that 'evil' 1%.
Like it or not large numbers of the Catholic church are liberal voting democrats. And a large number of them view the Church tradition on contraception as out of date and out of touch.
I suspect the objective was to divert attention but yet to draw attention given how many in the Catholic church support and demand 'UNIVERSAL' health care.... of Teddy Kennedy's life work. So the 'church' is going to have to rethink their demand of 'UNIVERSAL' health care if they intend to maintain their contraception tradition.