Romney

Like the other presidential wannabes, Mitt Romney will have to surmount many obstacles to reach the White House. But unlike all the others, said Jill Lawrence in USA Today, he will have to first convince voters he doesn't belong to a bizarre religious cult. As a Mormon, the former Massachusetts governor practices a faith that conservative Christians consider a dangerous heresy, and that many secular Americans view with deep suspicion. 'œDespite its rapid growth and attempts to go mainstream,' the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still widely associated with polygamy (which the church banned in 1890), aggressive proselytizing, posthumously baptizing non-Mormon ancestors in order to save them, and the wearing of sacred, chaste underwear. In a new USA Today/Gallup Poll, more than a quarter of all voters said they would not vote for a Mormon nominee. Romney says he's running for a secular office, and that he wouldn't put religion before the Constitution. But in running for president, he says, 'œI wouldn't take it upon myself to try in any way to distance myself from my faith.'

Are we really having this conversation? said The Washington Post in an editorial. Back in 1960, John F. Kennedy put this issue to rest when many Americans worried that a Catholic president would be compelled to do the pope's bidding. Kennedy assured them he would keep church and state separate. Romney is a candidate 'œwith many strengths,' including his success as head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which he rescued from financial disaster, and his creative and non-ideological tenure as Massachusetts governor, where he proved he could work with Democrats. Romney 'œshould be judged on a basis other than his faith.'

Fine—let's judge him on his politics, said Richard Cohen, also in the Post. Now that he's got 'œPotomac fever,' Romney has revealed himself as a shameless opportunist. As a Senate candidate in 1994, and as governor of a liberal state, he was pro-choice on abortion, aggressively supported gay rights, welcomed embryonic stem-cell research, and favored gun control. Now that he's pandering for the votes of the GOP's Christian conservatives, he's suddenly pro-life, anti'“gay marriage, and an opponent of stem-cell research. He recently joined the National Rifle Association and has decided evolution is suspect. All candidates fudge a bit to get elected, but this guy is 'œthoroughly counterfeit.' Any day now, I'm expecting to see a newspaper headline that reads, 'œRomney Says He Is Not Really a Mormon.'

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So far, Romney's ploy isn't working, said John Heilemann in New York. Most polls have found that his support among Republicans is mired in the single digits. His emergence as 'œa top-tier candidate' has 'œless to do with his strengths than with the staggering weakness of the Republican field.' The party's conservative base is very wary of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, who have long track records of maverick and even liberal stances on some issues. Hard-core conservative Sen. Sam Brownback is virtually unelectable. If Romney is viable, it's only because 'œhe's the minimally acceptable man to the right who has a chance of winning.'

Rick Perlstein

The New Republic