The political news of the day is that Mitt Romney's not re-upping for a second term. He's going to quit while he's ahead and free himself up to campaign for president full-time in 2007. That parallels what Jimmy Carter did leading up to the 1976 campaign; he left office in Georgia in early 1975 and had the year to camp out in Iowa and New Hampshire, back when people weren't used to seeing people use all of {election year-1} to campaign.
I've got a slight nit to pick with John Miller, who excepts a National Review piece of his in the Corner-
In a GOP primary, the surrogates of other Republican candidates probably will emphasize Mormonism's doctrinal oddities, such as its claims about extra-Biblical revelation. There's no telling how this will play out, though one expert on evangelical politics suspects that it might amount to little. 'I think evangelicals will put aside theological differences if they believe someone's on the right side of the culture war,' says Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. 'Voters will care more about what a candidate believes about gay marriage.' It's even possible to think that Romney's Mormonism could become a hidden asset, giving him access both to funds from around the country and to votes in states such as Arizona (where many Mormons live).
Extra-biblical revelation isn't the big problem with Mormonism, its what those revelations are and how they're treated. Catholics think the Pope speaks for God on doctrinal matters just like the Mormons look to their President; folks on the Pentecostal side of the aisle think God still speaks to folks, although this guy takes it multiple notches too far (thanks to Randy McRoberts for the link).
However, the Catholic church didn't add new scripture to the canon two centuries ago (no Apocrypha fights, please; they're not doctrine-changing like Doctrines and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price) nor did those new scriptures say that both the Father and the Son were mere men who grew into godhood and that we can be gods ourselves if we're good.
His Mormonism shouldn't translate much into policy, but it will still be a yuck factor for a lot of voters, both evangelical and Catholic, in the primary season.
Romney's got an outside shot if the race is he and McCain and Rudy. If that's the field, Mitt's could be seen by conservatives as the best of a mediocre lot, although I'd prefer McCain to Romney at this point. However, someone will rise up from the conservative side of the party; if he's credible, Romney's moderation on both fiscal and social policy will make it hard to get the nomination.
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