Cyndi Mosteller: Lover or Hater?

The State reports that Mitt Romney was confronted by a South Carolina Republican executive committee member about is faith earlier this month (HT: Wizbang Politics). More accurately, she confronted him about the history of his church. The comments on the Wizbang Politics blog post are very telling. Somewhat of a pattern is forming in the blogosphere, in which someone posts a piece about Mitt Romney's religion and depending on the tone of the piece someone either defends Romney or voices concern about certain aspects of Mormon doctrine, after which a generic discussion about the political relevance of Romney's religion ensues. It usually takes a turn into a discussion about the very truth or falsehood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Most of Romney's defenders seem to be Mormons themselves and the critics seem to be evangelical christians, but a few but a few evangelical defenders have spoken up -- most notably, perhaps, the blog Evangelicals for Mitt. My point is that this is a conversation that I see mostly in the blogosphere and not yet among the general public, and only somewhat in the media. I'll be interested to see how the media and general public react to questioning Romney about his church's history as these things unfold.

As it turns out, Cyndi Mosteller, the woman who questioned Romney, is a McCain operative, as reported by Article VI Blog. There's a rather large picture of Cyndi here (and if you click on it with your mouse, it gets even bigger). Is she motivated by hatred for the Mormon Church or a love for John McCain (or perhaps a love for campaign finance reform)? I can't say at this point, but I can say that Law Students For Romney may have just found its foil.

Keeping Tabs

The latest National Journal rankings are very interesting (and about three weeks old, I know). McCain and Romney are still 1-2, but Giuliani is 3 and George Allen slipped to number 5, all as a result of "Macaca-gate". I don't understand why they place Giuliani so high. Apparently they believe that he could fill the McCain-Romney "vacuum". I think the vacuum left by those two is going to be for someone more socially conservative than both of them, someone like Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Giuliani has great name recognition, but I just don't see how he fills any Republican vacuum.

For my money, the '08 presidential election is shaping up to be the most interesting election in my lifetime. First of all there's no apparent heir to the nomination of either party as there usually is. Remember 2000? Senator Bill Bradley only sort of gave Al Gore a run for his money and it was boring. Are there two less animated people in the history of American politics? This time, both parties are going to have knock-down, drag-out primaries. Second, on the short list of contenders are a Mormon, a woman, an African-American (National Journal moved Barack Obama into the fifth spot), and a guy who looks like a horse (Virginia's own Mark Warner) -- any one of whom could get their party's nomination.

Mass. Gov. Romney says its too early to declare 2008 candidacy

Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney, in Tuscaloosa yesterday (Sunday) to honor U-S Senator Richard Shelby, said it was too early to declare himself a 2008 presidential candidate.

Romney bars state security for Iranian's Harvard visit

"There are people in this state who have suffered from terrorism, and taking even a dollar of their money to support a terrorist is unacceptable. . . ."