The Long Awaited News
"We've filed exploratory papers today, so the process is moving forward on that front." - Mitt Romney
That’s the best news, as far as this blogger is concerned. As laid out yesterday, there is a lot of uphill climbing for Romney. He needs national name recognition, but from the reports, he seems to have a strong network of operatives and contributors in place in key states. Certainly there will be more needed to catch up to front-runners McCain and Giuliani.
Interestingly enough, also being reported today is the fact that the Massachusetts amendment to ban gay marriage has garnered enough votes to get on the ballot there. While this isn’t a home-run, it certainly is a victory for Romney since he was the one to initiate the process. Certainly this will help him to ease concerns about his stance on gay marriage and will be something to trumpet as part of a record of accomplishment even up to his last day in office.
The New Republic also has Romney on its cover. An article by Damon Linker discusses Romney’s Mormonism (subscribers only) and the implications for the White House. There is also a rebuttal by Richard Lyman Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus at Columbia University. As I’m not a subscriber, I wasn’t able to read the article. The rebuttal was directed mostly at the history of Mormon politicians and the role the LDS Church has played in politics. The rebuttal is essentially self-explanatory and so this blogger will refrain from comment.
That’s the best news, as far as this blogger is concerned. As laid out yesterday, there is a lot of uphill climbing for Romney. He needs national name recognition, but from the reports, he seems to have a strong network of operatives and contributors in place in key states. Certainly there will be more needed to catch up to front-runners McCain and Giuliani.
Interestingly enough, also being reported today is the fact that the Massachusetts amendment to ban gay marriage has garnered enough votes to get on the ballot there. While this isn’t a home-run, it certainly is a victory for Romney since he was the one to initiate the process. Certainly this will help him to ease concerns about his stance on gay marriage and will be something to trumpet as part of a record of accomplishment even up to his last day in office.
The New Republic also has Romney on its cover. An article by Damon Linker discusses Romney’s Mormonism (subscribers only) and the implications for the White House. There is also a rebuttal by Richard Lyman Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History Emeritus at Columbia University. As I’m not a subscriber, I wasn’t able to read the article. The rebuttal was directed mostly at the history of Mormon politicians and the role the LDS Church has played in politics. The rebuttal is essentially self-explanatory and so this blogger will refrain from comment.
posted by Kyle Hampton at 11:57 AM
3 Comments:
I'm still far from convinced that Giuliani is a legitimate threat at the primary level. For me I see his competition as McCain and one of the so called "real conservatives" who will try to steal the evangelical base vote.
On the Massachusetts front, the vote yesterday was only a preliminary step. It has to be voted on yet again this coming session by the new legislature before it will make the ballot. So while it should make Romney happy, I'm not sure it will help him all that much. I really haven't seen Romney's stance on gay marriage questioned by conservatives that much in the press. The only firestorm I've seen is his position (or prior positions) on gay rights in general. Even back in 1994 he opposed same-sex marriage.
A copy of the Damon Linker article you reference can be found here.
It should be noted that Damon Linker taught at BYU for two years, an experience which I'm certain informs his non-LDS perspective on Mormonism and Romney's candidacy. For anyone interested in Bushman's response, you can find it here.
And by "only firestorm" above I was only speaking about firestorms on gay-related issues. There has obviously been criticism on things like Romney's past position on abortion and his Mormon faith.
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