RON PAUL 2012

[NYBob]

Mitt Romney's Skeleton Closet -

http://www.realchange.org/romney.htm

ONLY THE ONE WHO WANT OBAMA TO WIN WOULD ELECT MITT ROMNEY -

E.g..snippet...
"There's no question that Romney has to run the gantlet if he
wants to be the nominee, and the early states are not terribly
promising," says Randall Balmer, a religion professor at
Barnard College in New York City who has written about
evangelicals in politics.

"In the instance of evangelicals themselves, there is long-held,
long-standing prejudice against Mormonism."

Dispute over definition

Though Mormons describe themselves as Christians —
the church's formal name is the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints—
some evangelical Christians do not consider them so.

In a Public Religion Research Institute poll released in
November, 49% of evangelical voters surveyed said they do not
regard the Mormon faith as a Christian religion.

That popped up in October, when the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a
Perry backer, called the Mormon Church a "cult."
Perry repudiated the remark.

In a discussion this month sponsored by The Iowa Republican news

website, political activist Craig Berman said

"a thousand pastors" were ready to argue that nominating a

Mormon would result in President Obama's re-election as a

punishment from God.
(Berman was subsequently hired, but quickly fired, as
state political director for the Gingrich campaign.)

"There are some people who this is a deal for.
They'll talk about it, they're not going to shy away from
talking about it," says Craig Robinson, former political
director for the state Republican Party, who runs the Iowa
Republican site.

Romney's faith will be an issue for evangelical voters in
South Carolina, says Dave Woodard, a Republican political
consultant and political science professor at Clemson
University.
"I don't know how overt it will be or covert it will be,"
he says, "Wear your big boy pants, because it will get rough
down here."

Evangelical caucusgoers haven't embraced a single candidate.

Iowa Rep. Steve King, whose endorsement is valued by
conservative candidates, said Monday that he could not make
up his mind -
even though he had spent the day shooting pheasants
with Santorum.
"There hasn't been one constitutional conservative that just
emerged to run away with the pack," he told The Des Moines
Register.
"There's no question that Romney has to run the gantlet if he
wants to be the nominee, and the early states are not terribly
promising," says Randall Balmer, a religion professor at
Barnard College in New York City who has written about
evangelicals in politics.

"In the instance of evangelicals themselves, there is long-
held, long-standing prejudice against Mormonism."

Dispute over definition

Though Mormons describe themselves as Christians —
the church's formal name is the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints— some evangelical Christians do not
consider them so.
In a Public Religion Research Institute poll released in
November, 49% of evangelical voters surveyed said they do
not regard the Mormon faith as a Christian religion.

That popped up in October, when the Rev. Robert Jeffress,
a Perry backer, called the Mormon Church a "cult."

Perry repudiated the remark.
In a discussion this month sponsored by The Iowa Republican

news website, political activist Craig Berman said

"a thousand pastors" were ready to argue that nominating

a Mormon would result in President Obama's re-election as

a punishment from God.

(Berman was subsequently hired, but quickly fired, as state
political director for the Gingrich campaign.)

"There are some people who this is a deal for.
They'll talk about it, they're not going to shy away from
talking about it," says Craig Robinson, former political
director for the state Republican Party, who runs the Iowa
Republican site.

Romney's faith will be an issue for evangelical voters in South
Carolina, says Dave Woodard, a Republican political consultant
and political science professor at Clemson University.

"I don't know how overt it will be or covert it will be,"
he says, "Wear your big boy pants, because it will get
rough down here."

Evangelical caucusgoers haven't embraced a single candidate.

Iowa Rep. Steve King, whose endorsement is valued by
conservative candidates, said Monday that he could not make up
his mind -
even though he had spent the day shooting pheasants with
Santorum.
"There hasn't been one constitutional conservative that just
emerged to run away with the pack," he told The Des Moines
Register.
Santorum won the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, a social
conservative leader who was Huckabee's campaign chairman -
but The Family Leader, the advocacy group he founded, did
not make an endorsement because its members were too divided.

Political positions trouble some

There was a time when a Catholic candidate faced similar
scrutiny among evangelicals.
Santorum, who is Catholic but has appealed primarily to
Christian voters, says he occasionally gets a comment on
the trail.
"I've had it mentioned to me a couple of times," he says.

Gingrich converted to Catholicism, the faith of his third wife,
Callista, in 2009.

"The only concern I've heard about Gingrich's Catholicism is
evangelicals hoping he's had a sincere, redemptive moment,"
says Steve Deace, an influential Christian talk radio host in
Iowa.
"Back in the day, evangelicals were concerned Catholics would
take orders from the pope.
Now, given how many liberal Catholic politicians there are,
evangelicals want a Catholic who actually does."

Romney's troubles with conservatives and evangelicals are
a result of his positions, not his faith, Robinson says.
The passage of universal health care in Massachusetts and
Romney's changing position on abortion turn off more
voters than his faith could, Robinson says.
"I've had people tell me that it's not that he's a Mormon,
it's that he's a bad Mormon," Robinson says.
"He didn't adhere to his church's teaching (which opposes
abortion).
It kind of troubles people because you just don't know
where he's at."

In 2007, Romney tried to address the issue of his faith with
a speech that evoked John F. Kennedy's speech to Houston
ministers addressing the issue of his Catholicism:
"I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties
of the office and the sovereign authority of the law."
This year, in the most recent GOP debates, he recalled his
two years as a church missionary in France.
On the trail, he has mentioned counseling people in difficulty
in his role as a church leader in Boston.
Doug Gross, an Iowa political veteran who was chairman of
Romney's campaign in 2008, says Romney should simply talk
about his values and his family, not his religion.
"I don't think he wants to wear his religion on his sleeve …
I don't think he can or should," Gross says.
"That's not how he's built. … I think he has a deep faith
and he lives his faith, which is highly commendable.
But he's not prepared or willing to talk about it, because
some people are skeptical or jaundiced about the Mormon faith.
So bringing it up, from a political point of view, is a
difficult thing to do."
If Romney is able to leverage his campaign funds and backing
from establishment Republicans into the nomination, the issue
of his faith may recede — even though, according to a survey
released in November by the Public Religion Research Institute,
42% of Americans say a Mormon president would make them
uncomfortable.
More Democrats said they feel that way (50%)
than Republicans (36%) or independents (38%).

"The faith factor in the general election …
gets some attention, it doesn't change any votes,"
says Robert Oldendick of the University of South Carolina.

Dan Schnur, who ran John McCain's 2000 campaign, says an
independent group backing Obama could remind voters of
Romney's faith as a way to suppress Republican turnout
among conservatives, likely to be least enchanted with
Romney as nominee.

Deace predicts that a Romney nomination would get the
attention of evangelicals nationally.

"Many Christians and pastors around the country unfortunately
don't pay attention until the general election.
I do think you will see pastors concerned about the theological
blurring of the lines between Mormonism and Christian
orthodoxy start to speak out if he's the nominee."
Contributing: Susan Page