Reporter Attacks On The Horizon?

The Hill had an interesting story yesterday on Mitt Romney and the expected Evangelical attacks on his faith that haven't really materialized. GOP Pollster David Hill has a prediction... since Evangelicals haven't attacked, reporters will be the ones that end up attacking:

The Romney campaign has been expecting a torrent of “anti-Mormon prejudice.” But it hasn’t happened. Mitt has mostly been left alone. Most unexpectedly, Evangelical Christians have been reluctant to say much. While my own reading of polls leads me to guess that Evangelicals are evenly split on accepting a Mormon as president, they are united in their silence on the matter.

This is a key development because the liberal mainstream media will now feel free to go after Romney. Most journalists were initially anticipating a Religious Right attack on the former Massachusetts governor. So the press held back from scrutinizing Romney’s faith. In a fight between James Dobson or Jerry Falwell and Mitt Romney, most reporters would have taken the candidate’s side. But barring a situation where “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Romney is soon going to be fair game for enterprising reporters.

Romney News Round Up

Here are a few interesting articles related to Mitt Romney's campaign that I've run across over the past few days:

Mitt Romney

• A Mormon President? I Don't Think So (Boston Globe): The Globe asks the question "Can a Mormon be elected president in 2008?" and answers it "No." Ostensibly because "most Americans would view [Mormon doctrines and practices] as strange."
  

• Who's The Real Mitt Romney (CBN): The Christian Broadcasting Network looks into Romney's candidacy with an extended piece that can be seen via this link.
  

• Romney Resurrects A Passe Strategy (Boston Globe): The Globe looks into Romney's "leaked" strategy targeting France. "Romney's campaign still sees political gain in whipping up anger toward France. It's similar to Romney's decision last year to refuse State Police protection for Iran's moderate former president, who was speaking at Harvard, as a protest against Iran's current hard-line president. The common thread is that Romney seems to believe that presidential voters will respond only to the gesture, not the facts behind it."

• Romneys Highlight Their "Family Values (Hearst Newspapers): "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday showcased his "family values" before an influential audience of conservative Republicans by pointedly introducing his wife of 37 years just hours after thrice-married Rudolph Giuliani made a pitch for support from the same audience."

• To Romney Strategist, Questions On Faith Fair Game (Boston Globe): "It's appropriate for the public to ask questions about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith as he pursues his presidential campaign, a top Romney campaign strategist said yesterday."

• What Romney Could Do For Mormons (Providence Journal): Regent University President Charles Dunn writes "Can Romney do for Mormons what Kennedy did for Catholics? To do so, Romney must negate America's anti-Mormon prejudice, especially among evangelical Christians. Some parallels suggest that he could."

• Romney Picks Up Jason Roe (Politico): "The Politico has learned that [Capitol Hill veteran Jason] Roe will head north to become Romney's deputy campaign manager, assisting Beth Myers, the manager, in day-to-day operations there.... Roe has been Rep. Tom Feeney's Chief of Staff since 2003, but has considerable campaign experience.
  

• Mitt Romney Starts So. Florida Ads In Spanish (CBS4): Romney's running Spanish ads in Florida targeting Cuban-American voters. The full text of his ad is on his website.
  

Republican Competitors

• Giuliani Doesn't Worry Romney Campaign (Standard Examiner): "Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign says it is unfazed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s recent surge in the polls and insists there is plenty of time to catch up with such better–known rivals."

• CPAC Embraces Steele, Gingrich (Washington Times): The Washington Times writes that Steele and Gingrich were CPAC's biggest stars (while barely mentioning Romney).
  

• As Others Look Vulnerable, Brownback Gets A Look (Kansas City Star): Is Brownback "the most interesting and foolishly overlooked candidate in the crowded presidential field"?

• Master of Disaster (Newsweek): Newsweek has an in depth piece this week on Giuliani and his candidacy.

Miscellaneous

• An Open Letter To CPAC (American Mind): A who's who of conservative bloggers call for a Coulter boycott in the wake of her recent controversial remarks.

Gallup Poll on Mormonism

Gallup has a new opinion poll out on Mormonism that delves into the statistics showing that more than a quarter of Americans will vote for an otherwise well-qualified presidential candidate who is a Mormon. The key findings are:

• Americans who are more religious (as measured by frequency of church attendance) and those who are Protestant have highly negative views of the Mormon religion. The differences in views of Mormons among groups defined by their church attendance are significant. There is a net negative view of -21 points among Americans who attend church weekly, contrasted with a net positive view of +10 among those who seldom or never attend church.
  
  
• Protestants are significantly more negative in their views than Catholics, who are the most positive group by religion.
  
  
• There are minor partisan differences. Republicans are slightly more negative in their views of Mormons than are either independents or Democrats.
  
  
• There is a major difference by ideological group. Liberals are extremely negative in their views on a relative basis; 28% have favorable opinions and 61% unfavorable opinions. By contrast, conservatives are essentially evenly divided in their views, while moderates break to the positive side, with 48% favorable and 40% unfavorable opinions.
  
  
• Opinions of Mormons are better formed in the West, where the preponderance of Mormons live, and are slightly more positive than negative. Only 3% of those living in the West have no opinion whatever of Mormons.
  

Opinion of the Mormon Religion by Subgroup
		Total favor- able	Total unfavor- able	Net Favor- able	Don't know/ No opinion
		%	%	pct. pts.	%
Total sample		42	46	-4	11
Region	East	41	49	-8	11
	Midwest	40	43	-3	18
	South	40	46	-6	14
	West	50	47	+3	3
Party	Republican	42	52	-10	5
	Independent	43	40	+3	18
	Democrat	43	47	-4	11
Ideology	Conservative	44	45	-1	10
	Moderate	48	40	+8	13
	Liberal	28	61	-33	11
Church attendance	Weekly	34	55	-21	11
	Nearly weekly/ Monthly	41	47	-6	12
	Seldom/ Never	49	39	+10	11
Religion	Total Christian	43	45	-2	11
	Protestant	36	52	-16	13
	Catholic	56	31	+25	12
	Non-Christian	39	46	-7	15
	None	39	46	-7	14

Romney News Round Up

Here's a smattering of recent news that's relevant to the Mitt Romney campaign:

• Tally In Straw Poll Resumes; McCain Even With Giuliani and Hunter (The State) - Preliminary results from yesterday's Spartanburg straw poll (with 81 of 92 precincts reporting) are: (1) Rudy Giuliani - 158 votes (2) Duncan Hunter - 152 votes (3) McCain - 116 (4) Sam Brownback - 83 votes (5) Mitt Romney - 80 votes (6) Mike Huckabee - 21 votes. The AP reported this morning that McCain had pulled even with Giuliani and Hunter when counting resumed this morning. Low turnout for the straw poll was attributed to bad weather, which could have hurt Romney's turnout. The results make me wonder if it was a mistake for Romney to push the straw poll as hard as he did though. He ran advertising in South Carolina and reportedly had his organizers heavily pushing his candidacy. That sort of emphasis can make otherwise relatively meaningless straw polls like this matter. What's more, it ends up highlighting Giulani's strong showing in the face of only light campaigning in the state on his part.
  

• Les Mitts (Slate) - Slate has another caustic article on Romney. While I personally found Romney's leaked memo strategy to demonize Europe and France a little annoying, I think this article is absolutely terrible and reeks of religious bigotry: "But by far the best part of Romney's strategy is his campaign's primal code for Brand Mormon. As the Globe explains: 'Enmity toward France, where Romney did his Mormon mission during college, is a recurring theme of the document. The European Union, it says at one point, wants to 'drag America down to Europe's standards,' adding: 'That's where Hillary and Dems would take us. Hillary = France.' The plan even envisions 'First, not France' bumper stickers.' According to his campaign, Mormonism is not some new-fangled, outside-the-mainstream religion. It's Romney's lifelong crusade against heathen France."

• McCain in Utah - McCain skipped out on CPAC and held a fundraiser in Utah yesterday at the invitation of Governor Jon Huntsman. The Deseret News reported that McCain raised over $150,000 as of last night and was expected add to that this morning. Why did McCain come to Utah? The Salt Lake Tribune quotes Utah State University professor Peter Galderisi saying "If [McCain] can get support and money in Utah, which obviously has a religious connection to Romney as well as an ideological one, it's like saying 'I'm still a contender. I can play his home turf.'"

• Romney Says Media Are Focused On Him (Boston Globe) - The Globe picked up on comments Romney made in his CBN interview Wednesday which attributed the media scrutiny against him to the media seeing him as the more conservative front-running candidate.

• Regent Students Upset At Romney's Choice As Speaker (Virginia-Pilot) - "Selecting presidential candidate Mitt Romney as its May commencement speaker has riled some of Regent University's students and alumni who say his Mormon faith clashes with the school's bedrock evangelical Christianity. 'What we're against is the fact that Mormonism is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Christian values and what we believe,' said Doug Dowdey, a Virginia Beach pastor who said he graduated from Regent's divinity school last year."

• Candidate Ancestry - Romney's not the only candidate that has the press focusing on his ancestry. Various press outlets are reporting that Barack Obama's mother's ancestors purportedly owned slaves. More news, like Romney's polygamous ancestry, that's not relevant to the current presidential campaign. I believe, however, that it bolsters my argument (in the comments) that reports on Romney's polygamous ancestors were not necessarily religious bigotry or a "liberal" hit piece, but rather another example of headline grabbing sensationalistic journalism.
  

The Mud Is Beginning To Fly

So the mud is beginning to fly... and it makes me think that when it gets bad, it's going to get pretty bad. First up, the State is reporting that Mitt Romney is getting attacked via anonymous mailings in South Carolina:

Anonymous mailings critical of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, on the eve of what has become an all-important Spartanburg straw poll, have raised the specter of a long, nasty battle between now and the 2008 S.C. Republican primary.

One of the pieces was sent via U.S. mail Monday to several Spartanburg County Republicans. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The State, is a six-page attack on Romney’s record on abortion, gun control, taxes and “conservative values.”

It is postmarked Columbia and headlined “Mitt Romney: Say anything to get elected.”

A second piece was sent via electronic mail from the address “upstaterepublican@gmail.com.” It said it was from “Martin W.” and attacked Romney’s faith.

The e-mail is headlined: “Mitt Romney has a family secret he doesn’t want you to know.”

It says: “Those dark suspicions you hide deep inside yourself about Mormonism are trying to tell you something. Trust your instincts! æ.æ.æ. The light of truth will burn through the smoke and mirrors of Mitt Romney’s movie star looks and crafty words!”

The e-mail includes a copy of a recent Associated Press story about how Romney’s ancestors practiced polygamy.

Next, an erroneous comment that Romney made about Giuliani is getting play too. In his interview with David Brody yesterday, Romney said Giuliani was "pro-gay marriage" (which he is not) prompting various news outlets to report that Romney was "smearing" Giuliani. A source "close to the Giuliani campaign" responded to the allegation by saying "It is sad, but unfortunately not surprising, that Mitt Romney's flailing campaign has chosen to misrepresent Rudy's positions. He can't keep his own positions straight let alone Rudy's."

Is it just me, or does it seem like the dam is starting to break on a vicious campaign cycle?

Mitt's Brody Interview

Mitt Romney sat down with CBN's David Brody yesterday for an interview on the eve of CPAC. Brody hasn't posted the interview in whole as of yet, but instead is posting clips on various issues:

• Should Romney address his Mormonism?

• Romney's position on embryonic stem-cell research
  

• Romney on polygamy
  

• Romney on McCain's Federal Marriage Amendment vote
  

• Romney on Hillary

• Romney on Giuliani
  

• Romney on why he's "going to win"
  

First Polygamy Punch

You knew it was only a matter of time. The AP has a story today today on Mitt Romney's Mormon roots, noting that his great-grandfather married a plural wife several years after the Church banned the practice.

Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

Romney's great-grandmother, Hannah Hood Hill, was the daughter of polygamists. She wrote vividly in her autobiography about how she "used to walk the floor and shed tears of sorrow" over her own husband's multiple marriages.

McLaughlin Group debates Romney

An interesting point made here is that ultimately questions about Romney's faith will become an asset to him as he gets to talk about values. I think that is evidenced in the previous post video showing the crowd's reaction to a heckler. The biggest question the Group sees is his shift to the right: will people find him credible.

Video of Romney Responding to Heckler

Faith target for media bias surrounding Romney campaign

There’s a piece by Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post entitled “The Latter-Day Candidate.” Kurtz starts off like this:

The press seems downright excited at the prospect of the first female president.

The idea of the first black president has journalists all but giddy.

But the first Mormon president? Whoa! That's a different matter.

The skeptical tone toward Mitt Romney's announcement has been impossible to miss. And the major reason is his religion.

"Will Mormon faith hurt bid for White House?" said USA Today's front-page headline on the day that the former Massachusetts governor announced.

Try to imagine a headline that said, "Will Jewish faith hurt bid for White House?"

Obviously, reporters are raising the issue because of polls showing that a chunk of the public wouldn't vote for a Mormon commander-in-chief--24 percent in a USA Today poll yesterday. But I believe the passive acceptance of this political "fact"--as opposed to, say, questioning opposition to gay marriage or civil unions--reflects a mindset that Mormonism is kind of weird and therefore okay to treat as a fringe movement.

Kurtz reveals an interesting phenomena. While most people, including Mormons, expect this sort of coverage, it does seem odd in this day and age when many groups that were previously reviled are now accepted, if not in the general public then in the media. However, today’s media seems content to continue venting prejudices about Mormons. Kurtz continues:

Would you use this blind quote, as New York magazine did?

" 'Look, let's be honest, Mormons are weird,' says a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate from Massachusetts, voicing a view widely shared by secularists and Evangelicals alike."

I sure wouldn't.

Neither would I, but of course I am a little biased.

Romney Weekend News Round Up

This was a pretty rich weekend presswise:

"Experience"

Romney Defends Experience (Columbia Tribune): "'I certainly wouldn’t want to compare myself to any other Republican,' Romney said Saturday during the Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Days gathering. 'We all have our own distinct and unique capabilities and experiences. I spent my life in the private sector. In the private sector, I made a habit and a practice to work throughout the world. I made investments like Italy and Germany and negotiated transactions in China and Russia. I helped oversee businesses in Russia and Japan. So I spent my life working in the world of international trade.' Romney also said his experience taking control of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was a prime example of his executive leadership. 'I helped organize the successful and safe gathering of nations,' Romney said, 'and, of course, I served as governor and been on the Homeland Security Advisory Council for the nation' . . . .Romney also noted that being governor prepared him to be the nation’s chief executive. 'Perhaps one of the greatest diplomats and leaders in the world of foreign affairs was Ronald Reagan, who served not in the Senate but in the governor’s chair," he said. "I think you look over the history of America, you’ll find a lot of great presidents have been governors. So I wouldn’t disqualify anyone based on their opportunity to serve as governor.'"

Religion and Social Issues

Romney's Faith May Be Political Issue (Concord Monitor): This article discusses the hurdles Romney's Mormon faith might pose, especially in New Hampshire, a key early state in the primaries. "In New Hampshire, [religious] themes aren't likely to play as loudly as elsewhere. The evangelical community is reportedly growing in the state but still represents a tiny portion of the population. Pinckney, who researched the churchgoing population when he first came to the region, estimates that only about 10 percent of people in the greater Concord area attend church regularly, despite what they may tell pollsters. Evangelicals probably represent fewer than half of them, he said."

Romney's Stem Cell View May Upset The Right (Boston Globe): "Unlike many on the right, Romney supports research on excess embryos created during fertility treatments. Because couples are making embryos to have a baby, he reasons, it is ethical to use the leftovers for research when they would otherwise just be discarded. Romney's position, however, is at odds with the views of many conservative anti abortion activists, who believe that any work on stem cells derived from human embryos is wrong, because it destroys the embryos in the process. Some say Romney's views make him unacceptable to many voters and will complicate his attempt to win the 2008 GOP nomination by appealing to the party's conservative flank."

'08 Presidential Candidates and Campaign

Backers And Money: Romney, Other Hopefuls In Early Fight To Stand Out In '08 Presidential Race (Deseret News): "An early need for a lot of money and even more supporters in the 2008 presidential election is driving White House hopeful Mitt Romney and other contenders to start their campaigns before the first primary date is even set in stone."

Giuliani Fares Well For GOP Moderate (LA Times): "Beyond geography, another dynamic working in Giuliani's favor now is the emerging mix of top-tier Republican candidates. Both of his chief opponents, McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have their own frictions with social conservatives. And neither has focused on the moderates most likely to gravitate to Giuliani."

Mike Huckabee On This Week With George Stephanopoulos (ABC News): Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee threw some shots at Romney yesterday on ABC's This Week: "I'm not as troubled by a person who has a different faith. I'm troubled by a person who tells me their faith doesn't influence their decisions. Because if a person says to me, 'Here's my faith, but it doesn't influence me at all,' what it says to me is: 'My faith isn't very significant.'"

Romney Drawing Support From Many Of Missouri's Top Republicans (AP): Romney appears to be making serious headway in Missouri: "Missouri's presidential primaries are a full year away, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appears to have some early momentum. Romney, who plans to formally announce his presidential candidacy Tuesday, already is garnering the support of many of Missouri's top Republicans. And he was the headline attraction Saturday night for hundreds of Republicans gathered at their annual Missouri Lincoln Days conference. The catalyst behind Romney's growing Missouri rapport appears to be Matt Blunt, who until he became governor two years ago did not even know Romney. Now Blunt considers Romney both a personal and political friend."

Romney Pushes His Conservative Credentials In Iowa (Quad City Times): It appears Romney still has some headway to make in Iowa: "Iowa GOP activist Chuck Hurley, who serves a president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, said some social conservatives in the state are skeptical of Romney. “I’m guessing that there are some people who have clearly made up their mind that he can’t be trusted, that it’s, you know, pandering,” Hurley said."

Romney, Brownback Address Michigan GOP (AP): "Republicans Mitt Romney, son of a Michigan governor, and Sam Brownback promoted their presidential campaigns Saturday before nearly 3,000 party activists at their state convention." Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty represented John McCain at the event. According to a local TV outlet, things got a little heated: "The tension between the Republican presidential camps -- especially between supporters of Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney-- was clear as nearly 3,000 Republican activists met Saturday for their state convention."

Damon Linker Revisited

The Salt Lake Tribune has a interesting article today that responds to the questions raised by Damon Linker about Mitt Romney's independence from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

Some call Romney's philosophical and policy changes a "conversion," while others dub them "flip-flops." By whatever name, one thing seems clear: Romney's motives are his own. Where once he was to the left of the LDS Church positions, now he is firmly to the right. Such independence fits well with church policy.
Though it does weigh in on what it deems "moral issues," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints long has claimed a position of strict political neutrality, repeating over the pulpit every year that it does not endorse candidates; allow its buildings, membership lists or other resources to be used for partisan purposes; or attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader.

News Round Up

A round up of some recent articles:

Economic Speech

Club for Growth Responds to Romney’s Economic Speech (Club For Growth Release): “Governor Romney outlined today an economic platform that is, generally speaking, very pro-growth despite the surprising limit he suggests for tax-free savings,” Toomey said. “As the governor develops the specifics of his economic policies, we hope he will boldly build upon the limited government, free-market policies he discussed today.”

Mitt Changes Tax-Cut Tune (Boston Herald): "After refusing to endorse President Bush’s tax cuts when he was governor, Mitt Romney has now made them a central part of his presidential campaign, stirring accusations that he is changing his position to appeal to GOP primary voters."

CNBC - Kudlow & Company Interview: Here is the full text of Romney's pretty favorable CNBC interview with Larry Kudlow Wednesday, where he discussed his economic, social and foreign policy positions.

2008 GOP Field

'08 Slate Without Standout For GOP (Washington Times): "Many conservatives say they pick "none of the above" when faced with a choice of Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as the 2008 Republican presidential nominee."

Energy

Romney Visits Iowa State lab, Endorses Energy Independence (Des Moines Regiser): Romney visited Iowa yesterday, touting energy independence and taking the time to stop by a University lab and assess the efforts of researchers at making plastic with vegetable oil rather than petroleum.

Iraq

Romney Concedes Iraq War Poorly Managed (AP): "We were underplanned, underprepared, we were understaffed in terms of our military team," he said. "We have to a certain degree created the difficulty that we are in."

Social Issues

Romney Re-Affirms Abortion Opposition During Stop In South Carolina (AP): Romney spoke to crowds in South Carolina today, taking the opportunity to reaffirm his position on abortion. One Christian Conservative activist, Dick White is quoted as saying: "If he follows through with his conservative philosophies . . . . I don't think the issue is what church he belongs to. It's where he stands on conservative issues."

To Flip Is To Flop-- Or Not (Orlando Sentinel): The Sentinel's Kathleen Parker describes Romney's position shift on abortion and stem cell research: "All of which is to say that Romney did the nerd-wonk thing: He studied; he listened; he changed his mind. Unfortunately, the flip-flop factor has shifted focus from other issues of greater concern both to Romney and most Americans, including the war in Iraq and terrorism. You have to be not dead before you can enjoy the luxury of defining life."

Mormonism

Faith Could Be Hurdle in Romney's White House Bid (NPR): NPR explores how much of a hurdle Romney's religion will be among social conservatives and the public at large.

Endorsements and Support

Romney Announces New Support (mittromney.com): On Wednesday, Romney announced his Florida Steering Committee, including Toni Jennings, the former Leuteniant Governor to Jeb Bush. On Thursday, Romney announced the support of Alabama Representative Robert Aderholt, the 22nd Congressman to endorse his campaign. Today, he announced that economist John Cogan, a former economist in Reagan's administration, will serve as a Co-Chair of his Economic Advisory Council (joining Glenn Hubbard and Greg Mankiw).

Romney and His Mormonism

The New York Times has a pretty balanced article exploring the prospect of Mitt Romney's faith becoming a campaign issue for him. It treads over a lot of familiar ground for anyone who has been watching Romney's campaign, but it's still worth a read. It gives us a peek into how Romney's campaign plans to handle the Mormon questions that will likely come up:

[Romney] said he was not concerned about the resistance in the polls. “If you did a poll and said: ‘Could a divorced actor be elected as president? Would you vote for a divorced actor as president?’ my guess is 70 percent would say no. But then they saw Ronald Reagan. They heard him. They heard his vision. They heard his experience. They said: ‘I like Ronald Reagan. I’m voting for him.’ ”

News Round Up

There are several interesting articles on Mitt making the rounds:

• US News & World Report: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Romney - Ten random tidbits gleaned from news articles over the past year.
  

• Huffington Post: May the Best Hair Win - On which candidate has the best hair, "The GOP nominee, hands down, will be Mitt Romney. Possessed of an almost inhumanly dense, resplendent head of hair that cleaves to its roots with an almost missionary zeal, Romney's coif is unstoppable."
  

• LA Times: Turnarounds By Romney Are Fair Game - Details how some on both the left and the right have seized on Romney's shift in positions.
  

• London Telegraph: The Mormon Who Wants To Be President - "The Republican presidential candidate whose telegenic looks have earned him the nickname "Matinee Mitt" prefers to talk about keeping taxes low and defeating global jihad."

LDS Church Affirms Neutrality

The Deseret News has an in depth story today on the efforts of top leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make it clear that Mormon political candidates, including Romney, won't be expected to follow their direction on matters of public policy.

Leavitt and Romney

It'll be interesting to see how prominent Mormons play into Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Take Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt, for instance. Romney worked closely with Leavitt during the run up to the 2002 Olympics, but yesterday Leavitt had what I thought was a somewhat awkward exchange with reporters about Romney's faith and the Massachusetts health care he signed into law.

McCain Supporter "Circulating" Mitt Romney Donation

The Politico is reporting that a "well-connected" McCain supporter is "circulating" the fact that Mitt Romney gave $250 in 1992 to the campaign of former New Hampshire Representative Dick Swett (D) has made a point of noting that Swett is a Mormon. Is this an attempt to bolster the Damon Linker note of caution that Mormon politicians hold their faith above their allegiance to their country?

In response, a Romney spokesman said: "A $250 contribution made almost 15 years ago is, obviously, greatly overshadowed by strong conservative governing and a proud, Republican record of balanced budgets and pro-family advocacy."

Big Romney Press Day

Today was a pretty big day press-wise for Mitt Romney.

• Roll Call reports that Romney is making concerted efforts to build support for his candidacy in the House of Representatives and early signs indicate that he is likely the favorite of a lot of House Republicans, including Minority LeaderJohn Boehner (R-OH), among others.
  

• Professors David E. Campbell, of Notre Dame and J. Quin Monson, of Brigham Young University, wrote a Op-Ed in today's USA Today arguing that Americans have nothing to fear in a Mormon president, but that Romney should be aware that some voters might react unfavorably to his religion. They note the obvious parallels to John F. Kennedy's candidacy almost 50 years ago and they point out that Romney would enjoy the same autonomy as fellow Church member Harry Reid, who opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment last year in spite of Church support for the measure.

• The Christian Science Monitor discusses the diverse presidential field and the hurdles Romney faces in over coming Mormon bias. The intro is pretty good... "At first, it sounds like a bad joke: What if a woman, a black, and a Mormon ran for president? Yet with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney running for the White House, this welcome burst of diversity in US presidential candidates is no joke."
  

Diageo/Hotline Poll

I've been out of commission the last couple of days and during that time a new Diageo/Hotline poll surfaced that seems to have some bad news for Mitt Romney.

The poll surveyed 800 registered voters and found that Mormonism is only slightly more popular than Islam and Republicans are 10% more likely to view the Mormon religion unfavorably than are Democrats.

 Fav/Unfav      All      Dem      GOP      Ind

Judaism      58%/11%   58%/10%  62%/16%  52%/6%
Catholicism  58%/21%   55%/24%  61%/24%  55%/16%
Mormonism    27%/39%   27%/38%  28%/48%  31%/26%
Islam        18%/41%   27%/27%  11%/58%  14%/41%