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Romney's 'Religion Speech'

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to make "the religion speech" Thursday, but don't count on him giving a soliloquy on Mormon beliefs and practices.

Rather, hope he tells you how his faith informs him and how his beliefs will guide him as president of the United States.

Romney has done a good job avoiding the religion question throughout the yearlong primary campaign, asking voters instead to judge him by his deeds and actions as a businessman, civic leader and governor of Massachusetts.

But with the surprising - and rising - popularity of rival and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, he evidently decided the time is right to talk about religion. Huckabee, after all, appeals to the evangelical voters in Iowa and elsewhere who are skeptical of Mormonism but whom Romney will need if he expects to win his party's nomination.

Romney is not likely to talk about the specifics of his faith. He probably will ask voters to be tolerant, as JFK did. While most Americans are religious, they can't command access to Romney's heart. His religion will play a minor role in the campaign if he can convince them he has answers to the country's woes and the ability to lead them into the future.

Still, it will be useful for voters, even those who believe religion should play no role in politics, to know whether candidates believe they will be held accountable to a higher power for the actions they take in office.

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