NEWS - ROMNEY LEADS IN SC AS SANTORUM, GINGRICH FIGHTS FOR SECOND

unreal! in a state thats LARGELY Southern Baptist! its increadable to me that Romney, a MORMON (like me) is in the lead! GO ROMNEY!
MICHELLE
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Romney leads in S.C. as Santorum, Gingrich fight for second

By ADAM BEAM

Three polls out Friday morning show Gov. Mitt Romney leading in South Carolina as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich fight for second place.
Romney’s support ranges from 27 percent according to a new poll from Rasmussen, 31 percent according to a poll from American Research Group to 37 percent according to a poll from CNN/TIME/ORC.
“We are under no illusions about the challenges facing us in the state – just four years ago Mitt Romney finished fourth in the South Carolina primary,” said Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign. “But in the closing weeks, we will continue to reach out to voters and make the case that Mitt Romney is the best candidate to beat Barack Obama, and that he is the best choice to grow the economy, cut spending, and create jobs.”

Rasmussen says Santorum is a solid second with 24 percent, while Gingrich is third with 18 percent. But American Research Group shows Gingrich and Santorum tied at 24 percent, while CNN/TIME/ORC shows Santorum at 19 percent and Gingrich at 18 percent.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who canceled three days worth of scheduled events this week in South Carolina following his poor showing in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, is at 5 percent in two of the polls and 2 percent in American Research Group.
It is a remarkable surge for Santorum, who two months ago was polling at 1 percent in South Carolina. But his strong showing in Tuesday’s Iowa caucus, where he finished second by eight votes, has vaulted him to the front.
In New Hampshire, whose primary is Tuesday, Romney still has a commanding lead with 40 percent. But Santorum has jumped into third place with 11 percent, the only candidate moving up in that race, according to a daily tracking poll from Suffolk University.
Nationally, Romney leads with 29 percent, followed by Santorum at 21 percent, according to Rasmussen.
Rasmussen polled 750 likely S.C. Republican primary voters on Thursday with a margin of error of 4 percent.
American Research Group polled 600 likely S.C. primary voters on Wednesday and Thursday. A margin of error was not available.
CNN/TIME/ORC polled 1,519 adults, including 485 likely voters, Wednesday and Thursday and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The Rasmussen poll found nearly half (48 percent) of S.C.’s likely primary voters could still change their minds. Forty-one percent of likely primary voters say they will not change their minds.
Paul has the most consistent base, with 62 percent of his supporters saying they will vote for him, while 51 percent of Perry’s backers say they aren’t going anywhere and 50 percent of Romney’s supporters say they will vote for him.
But just 43 percent of Santorum’s supporters say they will not change their minds, while 36 percent of Gingrich’s supporters say they have decided.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/01/06/2103445/romney-leads-in-sc-but-santorum.html#storylink=Afternoon%20Newsletter#storylink=cpy

NEWS - ROMNEY HS CLEAR LEAD AMONG REPUBLICANS

Romney has clear lead among Republicans

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mitt Romney has a growing lead in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, and almost half of the party's voters expect him to be the nominee, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Twenty-eight percent of Republicans backed the former Massachusetts governor, giving him a lead of 8 percentage points over his nearest challenger Herman Cain in the poll, taken November 10-11.

Romney was 5 percentage points ahead in a survey November 7-8.

Newt Gingrich, the U.S. House of Representatives speaker in the mid-1990s, solidified a recent rise among conservatives seeking an alternative to the more moderate Romney, coming in third place in the current poll with 16 percent.

Gingrich, who is seen as having performed well in recent debates, was viewed as the second-most "presidential" of the Republican hopefuls, according to the poll.

Whether or not they support him, almost half of the Republicans surveyed expect Romney to become the nominee to oppose President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election.

Romney, who also ran for president in 2008, has been in first or second place in polls for months and enjoys by far the most campaign funds of the Republican field.
But some in his party see him as too liberal, and he has so far failed to significantly boost his level of support in polls. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, however, shows he is benefiting from missteps by his rivals.
"As the other candidates falter, his image comes into relief," Ipsos pollster Cliff Young said.
The campaign of former pizza executive Cain has been dogged by allegations that he sexually harassed four women in the late 1990s. He has denied the allegations.

Texas Governor Rick Perry was in fourth place with 12 percent in the latest poll, which was taken on the heels of his disastrous performance in a debate on Wednesday when he could not remember key details of one of his main policy proposals.

He had 10 percent in the November 7-8 poll.
When judged on his personal qualities, Romney was rated strongly by Republicans, while both Perry and Cain trailed in important categories.
Romney, the former head of the Bain Capital private equity firm, says his business experience gives him an advantage over other Republicans and Obama in the quest to create jobs for the sluggish U.S. economy.

Far more voters see Romney as presidential than those who feel the same way about his Republican rivals, with 34 percent in the poll saying he is the most presidential candidate in the field.

"Going into the primaries, he's in a strong position and his image is solidifying around a very important attribute, which is being presidential, or being seen as presidential," Young said.
GINGRICH CHALLENGE
Gingrich, whose campaign is gaining momentum after struggling with staff desertions in the summer, was seen as the second most presidential candidate with 19 percent, 1 percentage point ahead of Cain. Perry trailed at 11 percent.

Gingrich, keeping to his form in previous debates, attacked Obama instead of the other Republican candidates at a debate devoted to foreign policy on Saturday in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

"There are a number of ways to be smart about Iran and relatively few ways to be dumb and the administration has skipped all the ways to be smart," Gingrich said, advocating covert operations to stop Tehran from making a nuclear bomb.

Perry's debate blunder last Wednesday, when he struggled to name the third of three government departments he would eliminate as president, has damaged his campaign but he remains in contention, the poll shows.

When shown the video of Perry's gaffe on Wednesday, 31 percent of poll respondents said he should withdraw from the campaign while just over half said he should stay in.

Romney was picked first when the Republicans were asked who would be "a strong leader for America," at 28 percent, with Cain following at 21 percent. Gingrich was at 20 percent and Perry trailed at 12 percent.
Although portrayed by both Democrats and Republicans as someone who changes his stance for political purposes, Romney fared better than Cain and Perry when respondents were asked which candidate "will say anything to win votes."
Twenty-one percent chose Cain, 20 percent pointed to Perry, Romney was at 19 and Gingrich came in at 8 percent.

When asked which candidates were "too radical to lead America," the Republicans in the poll put Cain at the head of all the candidates with 21 percent and Romney last at 8 percent. Gingrich had 12 percent and Perry was at 11 percent.

Cain and Romney tied at 24 percent when the voters were asked who has the best solutions for U.S. economic problems, with Gingrich at 15 percent and Perry at 12 percent.
When asked who "understands the problems of someone like me," the Republican voters failed to give any candidate more than 25 percent support. Cain was highest at 25 percent, to Romney's 16 percent, 15 percent for Perry and 14 percent for Gingrich.
The poll results are from an online survey of 461 Republican registered voters.

Because this was an online poll, typical margins of error do not apply. Despite that, various recognized methods were used to provide a representative sample and weighted results. If this were a traditional random survey, it would have a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

 

NEWS - HUNTSMAN TRIES TO SHED 'MODERATE' LABEL

Friday, Nov. 04, 2011

Elections 2012

Huntsman tries to shed ‘moderate’ label

 

By GINA SMITH

Jon Huntsman’s S.C. advisers are pushing back on the “moderate” label that has dogged the former Utah governor in his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president.
“We have a story to tell about Huntsman that hasn’t been told yet,” Richard Quinn, a S.C. adviser to Huntsman, said Thursday as Huntsman shook hands and ate barbeque at a Columbia restaurant.
The Columbia stop marked the second day of a three-day swing by Huntsman through South Carolina, an important early-voting state that holds its GOP primary on Jan. 21.

S.C. politicos increasingly agree the S.C. race will come down to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who consistently has finished in the top two in S.C. polls, and a “non-Romney” candidate, likely to be someone further to the political right of Romney.
That means a new narrative is needed for Huntsman who, rightly or wrongly, has been labeled as a moderate by many S.C. voters because of his stint as U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama, his support for same-sex civil unions and his belief in global warming.
For example, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has singled Huntsman out as a candidate that she would not endorse, saying he was not a “strong conservative.”
Huntsman has not broken out of the low single digits in any S.C. poll.
“He got branded early as a moderate,” said Quinn, who helped Republican nominee John McCain win the state’s primary in 2008. “A lot of that has to do with Obama. Obama tried to destroy him with hugs and kisses. ... The other candidates caught on and have chimed in too.”
Huntsman stopped short of denying the moderate label during his Columbia visit Thursday. Instead, he called himself a “mainstream conservative,” pointing to his pro-life record, support of the Second Amendment and passage of a school voucher bill while he was Utah governor as proof of his conservative credentials.
“People will find out themselves that I have a conservative governing record,” Huntsman said. “You can’t just throw a moderate tag out when you’ve been elected twice in a state of Utah. ... That is a very conservative state.”

NEWS - HUNTSMAN ENTERS SOUTH CAROLINA GOP CONTEST

Thursday, Jun. 23, 2011

Huntsman enters S.C. GOP contest

By JOHN O’CONNOR 

A day after asking U.S. voters to give his record a long look, former U.S. ambassador to China and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman officially entered the 2012 S.C. Republican presidential primary race Wednesday.
Huntsman, 51, pitched his business experience with his family’s chemical company, noted his foreign policy credentials and argued Utah led the country in economic growth during his time as governor.
He toured a Columbia grill manufacturer before heading to S.C. GOP headquarters to drop off his $35,000 filing fee and sign filing documents. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Kaye, and four of their seven children.

“Tune into to what we’ve done as governor and who we are as people,” Huntsman told several dozen party activists, touting high-tech jobs, and his experience balancing Utah’s state budget and beefing up its reserve funds. “Some people run away from their record.”
Huntsman said it was “unacceptable” and “un-American” that the United States is less productive and less competitive than it used to be.
He enters a crowded Republican field – six candidates officially have filed in South Carolina – that could grow more crowded. Polls show Huntsman is largely unknown among voters, and that a significant portion of those who know him react unfavorably to the former governor.
Huntsman’s Wednesday appearance used the same location that former S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster used to announced his 2009 Republican gubernatorial campaign. McMaster’s consultant, Richard Quinn, is working for Huntsman, and the two candidates share much of the same message and imagery: statesman-like experience; a focus on economic development; and allegiance to the optimism of former President Ronald Reagan.
McMaster finished third in the 2010 S.C. GOP primary. How will Huntsman succeed where McMaster failed?
“The voters agreed with that message,” said McMaster, who traveled with Huntsman on Wednesday. “They chose another candidate. He clearly is uniquely qualified, uniquely experienced among all the very fine candidates, and I think the people of South Carolina will like him.”
Huntsman began trying to make those connections Wednesday, touching a key S.C. political issue by calling on President Barack Obama — Huntsman’s former boss when he was ambassador to China — to step into and oppose the National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing’s opening of a plant in North Charleston. The agency contends Boeing started the plant to escape unionized workers in Washington state.
S.C. Democrats painted Huntsman as a political moderate, which could spell trouble in a state highly influenced by the conservative Tea Party movement.
Huntsman’s faith also could be problematic in South Carolina. Like Mitt Romney, who finished fourth in the 2008 S.C. Republican presidential primary, Huntsman was raised a Mormon, a faith that has roused suspicion among evangelical Republican voters in the Palmetto State.
Huntsman said Wednesday that he is a Christian, adding spirituality is important. “I believe in God. … I’m very proud of my Mormon roots.”
Also Wednesday, the Washington, D.C.,-based Club for Growth released its assessment of Huntsman — complimenting his tax-cutting and tax-reform record but critical of his record in limiting budget growth. South Carolina has an active Club for Growth chapter, and much of its leadership loaned their support to the candidacies of Gov. Nikki Haley and former Gov. Mark Sanford.
“In the end, it is Gov. Huntsman’s spending record that is inexcusable,” the Club for Growth report concluded. “There is now widespread recognition that the next President must address the enormous threat posed by federal spending that threatens national bankruptcy. Huntsman’s failing grades on controlling state spending raise serious questions about whether he would be equal to that task.”
“If you do the math,” Huntsman said in response,” you’ll find the percentage of spending that went toward government actually decreased.”

NEWS - ROMNEY LEADS IN SOUTH CAROLINA -POLL SAYS

Wednesday, Jun. 08, 2011

Romney leads in S.C., poll says

Palin, who has not said whether she will run, in second place

By GINA SMITH

A new poll affirms former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as South Carolina’s early favorite for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling quizzed 1,000 South Carolinians who usually vote in GOP primaries and found Romney leading with 27 percent support. The poll’s margin of error is 3.1 percent.
Romney, who also ran for president in 2008, also is in first place in three other early-voting Republican contests – in New Hampshire, Nevada and Iowa, according to polls by Public Policy, which made its reputation polling for Democratic candidates.

But Larry Sabato, politics professor and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, expects Romney to lose his S.C. lead, in part because of his Mormon faith.
“You have to combine a poll with the political reality of a state,” Sabato said. “There’s a reason why (Romney) does so well in New Hampshire, because he was governor nearby in Massachusetts. They know him.
“There’s a reason he’s doing well in Nevada. There are lots of Mormons there.
“But (Christian) fundamentalists are about 60 percent of the Republican base in both South Carolina and Iowa, and they have a problem with Mormons. These are small leads (in South Carolina and Iowa), and we know for sure that Romney has problems in both states. We know that from 2008, and not that much has changed.”
During his 2008 run, Romney spent millions in South Carolina only to finish a disappointing fourth.
That showing has led to widespread speculation that Romney will not campaign much in South Carolina this year as he seeks the GOP nomination. Still, Romney was briefly in the state last month to meet with a group in Irmo to discuss the economy.
According to the poll, Romney’s strongest following is among South Carolinians who say they are moderate Republicans. He received 41 percent of that group’s support to Sarah Palin’s 15 percent.
The poll also found Palin is South Carolina’s second-favorite Republican. The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, who has not said whether she will run in 2012, garnered the support of 18 percent of those surveyed.
Both Romney and Palin have close ties to S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley. Romney’s political action committees were heavy contributors to Haley’s 2011 campaign. Palin appeared in Columbia to endorse Haley before the GOP primary.
Former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, both of bordering Georgia, were tied at 12 percent each in the poll.
The remainder of the field polled in the single digits: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman of Minnesota at 9 percent, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 7 percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 4 percent and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama, at 2 percent.
Joel Sawyer, Huntsman’s S.C. director, said his candidate’s low showing is because so few South Carolinians know him.
“The poll results are largely a function of name ID,” Sawyer said. “Gov. Huntsman has been in the state one time. He’s been exploring the idea of running for president for less than a month.”
Sawyer added if Huntsman decides later this month to run, S.C. voters can expect to see him frequently.

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thats serisouly very difficult for me to recon with, as SC is largely a baptist state, sitting in the middle of the "bible belt". and for the most part Baptists have had issues with the doctrines of The Church of Jesus CHrist of Latter-Day Saints.
very hard for me to see that ROmney would be ahead in the polls there.
perhaps, hes the "lesser, of two evils" lol
MICHELLE

NEWS - MITT ROMNEY MORE COMPETATIVE W/OBAMA IN POLL, BUT RELIGION REMAINS A STICKING POINT

Mitt Romney more competitive with Obama in poll, but religion remains a sticking point
June 08, 2011|By Michael Muskal | Los Angeles Times

Republican presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney answers questions during a town hall style campaign event at the University of New Hampshire.

Mitt Romney is stepping away from the rest of the field for the GOP presidential nomination and is increasingly competitive against President Obama, though the former Massachusetts governor faces a potential problem because of his religion, according to the Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday.

A quarter of Republicans or GOP-leaning independent voters said they would back Romney over the rest of field for the Republican nod. It was the best showing for Romney in months and the first time any Republican had garnered so much support from his own party, a sign that Republicans may be coalescing a bit in these early days of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Still, Romney faces a possible political problem because of his religion, the Quinnipiac poll and other surveys have found. Overall, only 45% said they had a favorable opinion of the Mormon religion, while 32% said they had an unfavorable one. Other polls have found different numbers, but most agree that between a quarter and a third of voters say they would have a problem voting for a Mormon, creating a tough situation for Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is flirting with a presidential bid.

“The fact that less than half of voters have a favorable view of the religion is likely to be a political issue that Gov. Mitt Romney, and should his campaign catch on, Gov. Jon Huntsman, will have to deal with as they pursue the White House,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The nation’s anti-Mormon feelings aren’t new. In 2007, Romney tried to defuse the issue with a speech stressing common values.

According to the poll, Romney has opened up a lead over the rest of the GOP field, which has been seen as weak and fluid. Ranking in second place was Sarah Palin, the party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee, who received 15%. Palin has yet to announce her intentions, though she captured the media’s attention in her recent bus tour of patriotic sites in the East.

Palin, however, did better in the Reuters/Ipsos poll also released on Wednesday. That gave her 22% to Romney's 20%. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

In the Quinnipiac poll, Herman Cain, a businessman, continues to draw attention in third place with 9%, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, are tied at 8%. Rep Michele Bachmann gets 6% and former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is at 5%.

The Quinnipiac poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,946 registered voters, conducted from May 31 to Monday. It has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, though some questions dealing with GOP primary preferences have smaller samples and a higher margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Perhaps most significantly for Romney, the poll found that in a trial heat against Obama, the former businessman runs close, losing 47% to 41%. It is the best showing by a Republican candidate in the poll; Pawlenty loses by 12 percentage points and Palin by 17.
Voters remain split on whether Obama should be reelected, with 46% favoring and 48% opposed.
It was the second day of good polling news for Romney. On Tuesday, the ABC/Washington Post poll had Romney ahead of Palin, 21% to 17%. The poll gave Romney a three percentage-point margin over Obama, but the race was a statistical dead heat.

The ABC/Washington Post poll was based on 1,002 telephone interviews conducted Thursday through Sunday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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i. myself, dont see Romney getting the presidential seat, based on the religion factor alone.
it held him back before, and it will continue to hold him back.
and, i have no doubt, it will also effect Hunstman...as he is LDS as well.
for whatever reason (and its mostly false info they have indoctrinated within themselves) people cant get past the Mormon issue.
were NO diferent than anyone else.
we work, have lives, kids, and most of us have allot of kids.
we DO NOT have more than one wife!
we DO NOT intend to try to convert the nation once we have a Mormon in office!
NOT all of us are ultra conservative, some of us are actually very modern...like me.


Romney has a proven track record for taking bad financial situations and recovering them to a flow of sustainability.
He COULD very well start this country back on its feet again...
but well never see that happen, if the nation thinks his faith comes ahead of his Job.


MICHELLE

NEWS - IS AMERICA READY FOR A MORMON PRESIDENT?

03:04 PM ET

Is America ready for a Mormon president?

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

(CNN) - Mitt Romney’s campaign team knows that his Mormon faith scared off Republican voters the last time he ran for president.

But they believe a lot has changed in the last four years.

For starters, Romney is now much better known. The former Massachusetts governor campaigned hard in the 2008 primaries – even addressing his Mormonism head-on in a major speech — and has stayed in the public eye since, popping up on late-night talk shows and on cable news channels.

Romney’s Mormonism, the thinking goes, is less exotic than it was four years ago because the candidate is more familiar.

Plus, unlike in 2008, there’s a Democrat in the White House for Republican voters to unite against. The Romney camp hopes the Obama factor will boost support for a battle-tested candidate who’s shown he can raise the hundreds of millions of dollars White House bids require, regardless of the candidate’s religious affiliation.

And unlike the 2008 Republican primaries, when George W. Bush was in the White House and debate over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan loomed large, next year’s elections are poised to hang on the economy. Not a bad time, maybe, for a guy with a Harvard MBA and a career spent turning around financially troubled companies and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“The country’s really in a tough situation — the economy’s in a bad place and so people suddenly think that a guy with Mitt Romney’s capacity and experience looks a lot more attractive than he did four years ago,” says Mark DeMoss, a senior adviser to Romney’s campaign, which launched Thursday.

“That makes his faith much less of an issue than it was four years ago,” says DeMoss, who is tasked with helping Romney woo evangelical voters, a huge chunk of the GOP base and a constituency that’s historically been wary of Mormonism.

Whether DeMoss is right may make the difference in whether Romney, the current Republican frontrunner based on polls and fundraising, can actually win the Republican nomination and, ultimately, the White House.

But Romney may not be the only Mormon running for president. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is seriously flirting with a presidential bid.

Huntsman, Obama’s former ambassador to China, recently took a five-day swing through New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation Republican primary, and has hired staff in South Carolina, another key primary state.

The prospect of a Huntsman campaign means the nation could see an unprecedented test of whether the GOP — and, perhaps, the rest of the country — is ready for a Mormon president in an era when candidates’ religious beliefs have become weighty campaign issues.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is officially known, certainly seems eager for Mormonism to be less an issue in the presidential race than it was for Romney in 2008

“Recent media coverage seems to lean toward the conclusion that among many Americans, faith will be less of an issue in this election than it was in 2008,” church spokesman Michael Purdy said in a statement to CNN. “But it’s really for others to speculate on this.”

Public opinion polls suggest a lingering bias against Mormon candidates. A survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center found that a quarter of American adults admit to being less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate for president. (that doesnt surprise me)


The survey found that resistance to Mormon candidates was even higher among two groups: liberal Democrats and evangelicals, who overwhelmingly vote Republican. One in three white evangelicals said they were less likely to support a Mormon candidate.

That creates a stiff headwind for Romney and Huntsman, given evangelicals’ primary power. In 2008, evangelicals accounted for 60 percent of Republican voters in Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, and in South Carolina, whose primaries come hard on the heels of New Hampshire’s.

In 2008, Romney’s Mormonism “was a real factor in Iowa and South Carolina that predisposed many potential voters to never to consider Romney or hear his message,” said Gary Marx, who directed conservative outreach for Romney the last time he ran.

That year, Romney placed second in Iowa and fourth in South Carolina behind then-frontrunner Mike Huckabee – a Baptist preacher who won major evangelical support.

Though Mormons consider themselves to be Christians, many evangelicals consider the Latter-day Saints to be a cult. (and because of such nonsense, this is why he wont win)


Evangelicals object to the Mormon belief that the Book of Mormon is the revealed word of God and to such Mormon practices as proxy baptisms for the dead. Evangelicals and Mormons also compete for converts.

Many evangelical leaders have discouraged their followers from translating such differences into opposition to Mormon candidates. But that message isn’t always heeded.

“I don’t think it’s much of an issue among the leadership in evangelical circles,” Michael Farris, an influential evangelical activist, says of Mormon candidates. “But I don’t know if that is always true at the grassroots level.”

Richard Land, who directs public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest evangelical denomination, says evangelicals could coalesce around Romney but that the conditions would have to be just right.

“If Southern Baptists have a choice between an evangelical candidate, a Catholic and a Mormon and all three appear to be equally conservative and equally likely to beat Barack Obama, they’ll vote for the evangelical,” says Land, who has informally advised Romney on how to deal with his faith on the campaign trail.


“If there’s no such evangelical [in the] race, they’ll vote for the Catholic,” he says, “But if there’s no other candidate who’s likely to beat Obama, they’ll vote for the Mormon.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, an evangelical, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Catholic, are running for the GOP nomination.

Beyond theological challenges, conservative activists like Land and Farris say Romney faces skepticism among religious conservatives because he once supported abortion rights and signed a healthcare law in Massachusetts that critics say represented a dramatic government overreach.

But those close to Romney argue that Huckabee’s decision not to enter the 2012 race creates an opportunity for Romney to pick up more evangelical support. Or, they say, it could wind up splitting evangelical voters among multiple primary candidates, making evangelicals a less potent force.

DeMoss, a Christian public relations executive who also helped Romney with evangelical outreach in 2008, says one of the victories from the last campaign was that no big-name evangelical came out against Romney over his Mormonism. This time, DeMoss is working to get some evangelical leaders to go a step further and publicly support Romney.

After Romney’s 2008 defeat, one nationally known evangelical leader privately told DeMoss that he’d voted for Romney in the primaries.

“I remember thinking, it would have been nice if somebody else knew that,” says DeMoss, who believes such revelations would have made more evangelicals comfortable supporting a Mormon candidate.

Huntsman’s entry into the presidential race could make Mormonism less of an issue if it has a mainstreaming effect. But the two candidates’ religious affiliations could play out quite differently.

Romney has long been active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), having occupied Mormon leadership positions like bishop (the rough equivalent of a lay pastor) and stake president (someone who oversees groups of Mormon congregations).

“I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it,” Romney said in a December 2007 speech in which he addressed his Mormonism. “My faith is the faith of my fathers — I will be true to them and to my beliefs.”

Huntsman, like Romney, spent two years abroad as a Mormon missionary but has kept some distance from the LDS church. As governor of Utah, he loosened liquor laws that had been inspired by Mormon orthodoxy and broke with his church in signing a law allowing civil unions for gay couples.

In a recent television interview, Huntsman affirmed his Mormon faith but added that Mormonism is “a very diverse and heterogeneous cross-section of people. ... I probably add to that diversity somewhat.”

A Huntsman adviser who often deals with the media declined to respond to requests for comment.

Matthew Bowman, an editor at a Mormon studies journal called Dialogue, says Huntsman hails from a slightly younger generation of Mormons who are less defensive about their Mormonism.

“Huntsman is a Mormon who thinks of his faith not as something that separates him from American culture or as something he has to defend or explain away, which is what Romney did,” says Bowman. “Romney is always hyperaware of his Mormonism.”

That means Huntsman may face fewer questions about his Mormonism should he run.

The LDS church, for its part, says its policy is to steer clear of electoral politics. Some church observers say the controversy the church generated by supporting California’s 2008 gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, exacerbated its political reticence. (most mormons dont support gay marriage)

At the same time, the church has capitalized on increased attention paid to Mormonism - provoked by everything from Romney’s 2008 campaign to the current hit Broadway musical, “Book of Mormon” - with a succession of public awareness campaigns.

The church website Mormon.org, for example, was recently revamped with an eye toward educating non-Mormons about the religion. The site features video profiles of Mormons from different walks of life.

“The message of these ads is that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are your friends and neighbors,” says Purdy, the church spokesman. “We are professionals and tradespeople, artists and teachers and everything in between.”

Put another way, the message is that Mormons are normal, everyday Americans.

With the Republican primary race finally starting in earnest, the nation is about get a major glimpse into whether GOP voters agree.

NEWS - POLITICS HEIGHTEN INTEREST IN THE LDS (MORMON) CHURCH

Politics Heightens Interest in the Church

Published: Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon) issued the following statement on Feb. 1:
Just moments after Jon M. Huntsman Jr. resigned his post as U.S. Ambassador to China yesterday, the Public Affairs office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City began receiving calls from prominent news organizations speculating about another possible presidential bid by a Mormon and asking for insights about both Ambassador Huntsman and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. 

Clearly, it’s time to restate what we said back in 2007 and 2008: The Church is strictly neutral in matters of party politics and will not comment at all on the personalities and platforms of candidates, whether or not they are members of the Church and irrespective of their party affiliation.

The political neutrality policy affirms that “the Church’s mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians. The Church’s neutrality in matters of party politics applies in all of the many nations in which it is established.” The full document encourages members to be responsible citizens, to be actively involved in civic matters in their respective communities and nations, and to vote for whomever they wish.

We have experienced many times the intense inquiry and attention that comes when a member, or members, of the faith are the focus of public attention. Such attention is in some ways simply a result of Church growth. With more than six million members in the United States, many of our members are now in public life. We welcome and encourage questions about our faith, but we will respect the bright line between talking about the Church and talking about candidates for public office.

NEWS - WOULD YOU VOTE FOR SOMEONE JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE LDS/MORMON ?

Would You Vote for Someone Just Because They’re Mormon?

Ashley Evanson - 2 days ago

Buzz about the 2012 presidential election is already in full swing. But with no real Republican front-runner, really, anyone is game. We’ve been hearing Mitt Romney’s name tossed around as a potential for a while now, but two weeks ago we started hearing another familiar name: Jon Huntsman.

While Huntsman doesn’t have the same national profile as Romney, he has gained status as the ambassador to China and might become more of a threat in the upcoming year. Can you imagine—TWO Mormons (gasp) both running for president?

Now, I understand my next thought doesn’t apply to every Mormon, BUT, I know of a lot of members who vote for politicians based on the fact that they, too, are LDS. And honestly, I know that I’ve been unjustifiably biased toward LDS politicians for the sole reason that we share a religion.

But what if Romney and Huntsman go head to head in 2012? Who will the Mormons vote for?! If their only choice was Romney, I bet a fair number of Mormons wouldn’t really give the other candidates a second thought. But throw Huntsman into the picture and we might actually have to do more research on each candidate’s stances. If they both end up running, it will be interesting to see how members react to the situation over the next two years. Do I sense a hint of BYU vs. Utah-style rivalry in the air?

there was a poll provided, im not saying which way i voted, but the numbers speak for themselves i think