The Opinion Manufacturing Division steers well left of center today as it takes on voting rights, the Cuban embargo, food regulation, research earmarks and next week's election, among other topics. On the Op-Ed page, columnist Tim Rutten declares that the GOP has lost its grip on the Catholic vote, largely because Catholics' views on abortion now mirror the average voter's:

National polls have shown for some time that, although Catholics are personally opposed to abortion, they believe it ought to be legal in nearly identical percentages to the rest of America. Moreover, as a survey by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate found earlier this year, only 18% of Catholics "strongly" agree with the statement: "In deciding what is morally acceptable, I look to the church teachings and statements by the pope and bishops to form my conscience."

Elsewhere on the Op-Ed page, novelist Susan Straight pens a moving tribute to the recently deceased father of her ex-husband, General Roscoe Conklin Sims Jr. Lawrence M. Krauss, director of an Oregon State University research institute, defends three earmarks for scientific projects that John McCain and Sarah Palin have attacked on the campaign trail. And Anchorage Daily News columnist Michael Carey offers a portrait of his state's embattled "senator for life" and sugar daddy (with Uncle Sugar's money), Ted Stevens.

In the editorial stack, the Times board endorses a bill to let ex-cons vote in federal elections, and urges states to follow suit. It rails against the U.S. embargo against Cuba, whose sanctions "worsen poverty and its attendant ills but only strengthen the Castro regime." And in light of the spreading problem of melamine-tainted Chinese goods, the board calls on the U.S. to hold Chinese food imports for testing before it reaches supermarkets and restaurants.

Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images