In the immediate aftermath of Scott Brown’s victory last week, John B. Judis noted:

The Suffolk University poll in Massachusetts, which like the PPP poll, was pretty much on target in the final result, singled out two white working class towns, Gardner and Fitchburg, as bellwethers. Obama won Gardner, where Democrats hold a three-to-one registrations edge, by 59 to 31 percent in 2008. Brown won it by 56 to 42 percent. Obama won Fitchburg, with a similar Democratic edge, by 60 to 38 percent in 2008. Brown won it by 59 to 40 percent.

This should not be mysterious. In Massachusetts, “white working class” most often means “ethnic Catholic,” and as I pointed out Jan. 17 after visiting St. Anthony of Padua church in Fitchburg, Democrat Coakley’s pro-abortion stance offended many Catholics in that predominantly Italian parish. Now the blue-collar town of Fitchburg is the scene of another abortion-related battle:

A crowd of about 70 to 80 anti-abortion protesters waved signs and prayed Thursday on both sides of 391 Main St., where the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts plans to open an office this spring. . . .
Father Robert Bruso, of St. Anthony de Padua Church in Fitchburg, participated in the protest.
“It’s really nothing the city of Fitchburg stands for,” said Bruso.

The Fitchburg clinic is part of what Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts is doing with its $387,000 federal stimulus grant, and pro-life blogger Jill Stanek calls this an example of “the Obama administration subsidizing its pro-abort pals with our money.”