Romney is panicking
The fact that Mitt Romney is preparing a major speech to address his Mormonism smells of some panic in his camp. The reporting about three weeks ago was that Romney wanted to give a "Mormon speech," but his campaign staff was strongly objecting.
The fact that we're now going to hear a "Mormon speech" tells me that the internals within the campaign now see Huckabee as a real and major threat. Enough so, that the strategists have decided to roll the dice.
(If a whiff of panic bleeds into the media, Romney will be fighting uphill until caucus day.)
(Mitt Romney greets a supporter wearing a Santa Claus hat at the Kirkwood Community College Ballantyne Auditorium Iowa Hall during a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa November 30, 2007. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria))
(Later: Politico covers the same theme in two articles.)
posted by mikevotes at
8:27 AM
3 Comments:
All snariness aside, is his religion really that big a deal with the GOP electorate? Is he making it an issue for attention... for a kind of reverse psychology appeal.
I never understood the whole faith-and-politics thing and I have a hard time separating reality from my own stereotypes of "religious" voters.
By
-epm, at 6:42 PM
I really don't think he is. I play tennis with a few fundies, and they're megachurch but not fanatical, and they said they couldn't support him.
One of them used the word satanic.
A post I've been thinking about writing would ask about each candidates "ceiling."
Romney's ceiling would be marked by these evangelicals who won't vote for him.
Giuliani's by the same folks for different reasons.
McCain has an immigration ceiling.
The only one without a ceiling is Huckabee. (You might argue the Grover Norquist ceiling, but I don't think that's a solid block.)
By
mikevotes, at 9:24 PM
In the primary I think Huck's ceiling are not only the Norquist, anti-government anarchists, but also, ironically, a faction of the social conservatives. Huck's got it "right" when it comes to abortion and homophobia, but he's too "soft" on the immigration issue. I also wonder if he doesn't through out enough fear-meat to the GOP crowd.
In the general, I wonder if his religiosity might work against him. I'm wondering if this sort of blending of evangelical Christianity and public policy my have run it's course. I wonder if Mitt's Mormanism has caused a shift in the general zeitgeist regarding the blending of religion/politics. Are we shifting back to a more Kennedy-like (and Carter-like) respect for the separation of private faith and public policy... Just wondering.
By
-epm, at 9:21 AM
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