The John Kerry-Abortion-Opponent story had a shelf-life of about five minutes this week but, for historical purposes, it's interesting to go back and take another look.

It's not just Kerry who's flip-flopped.

At first blush, it looks like Kerry is taking part in another 180. But, in truth, Kerry has always backed the the view of mainstream Democratic leadership. It's just that that view has changed.

According to reports, Kerry said in 1972:

"It's a tragic day in the lives of everybody when abortion is looked on as an alternative to birth control or as an alternative to having a child. I think that's wrong," Kerry declared in the interview.

In fact, Kerry went so far as to say he is "opposed to abortion" because it makes "common sense" to do so...

"I think the question of abortion is one that should be left for the states to decide," he commented.

In Steven Hayward's book, "The Age of Reagan," we learn that is precisely the view that George McGovern had in 1972. And others in the party - including Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Sen. Edmund Muskie and Rev. Jesse Jackson - were even more hawkish on abortion:

"I'm not for it," said Humphrey. "It compromises the sanctity of life," said Muskie. The Rev. Jesse Jackson had an even tougher opinion at the time, describing abortion as "too nice a word for something cold, like murder."

Over the next few years, Catholic Democrats would adopt another position that lasted them for more than a decade: they would be "personally opposed" to abortion but support the law. Once in government, though, they would work to restrict abortions.

Joseph A. Califano Jr., the former LBJ confidant and Health, Education and Welfare secretary under President Jimmy Carter, writes in his new book, "Inside," that he was so conflicted about the issue that on the night before his Senate confirmation hearings in 1977 that he consulted his parish priest.

The priest told Califano that he wouldn't even be in a position to change abortion regulations unless he was in government. Once there, the priest told Califano, it was acceptable to uphold the laws of the land while - at the same time - working to change them.

Califano accepted that. Once confirmed as HEW secretary, he handed down regulations that restricted when government funds would be used to pay for abortions. But he also upheld the basic tenets of Roe v. Wade.

Like Kerry, Califano is a Mass-going devout Catholic.

For now, Kerry says he is "personally opposed" to abortion, but supports a woman's right to choose. But he also says:

So it's time we said to this President: �we're not going to let you turn back the clock.�

No overturning Roe v. Wade

No packing of the courts with judges hostile to choice

No denial of choice to poor women

No outlawing of a procedure necessary to save a woman's life or physical health

No more cutbacks on population control efforts around the world...

(He equates abortion with "population control." Think on that one a second.)

It seems that Kerry has now moved way beyond the Califano doctrine. So when he says he's "personally opposed" to abortion, what does that mean? That, in his personal time, he volunteers in adoption clinics?

The country has - even a good number of Catholics have - been willing to vote for candidates who support abortion rights. The country has moved beyond that as the determining factor in how voters vote.

But in 2004, it's not clear whether they'll support a candidate whose faith and conscience, apparently, has no center of gravity on even the most basic issue.

Old school Democrats like Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Edmund Muskie and Jesse Jackson never had to face that situation. This year, Kerry might.