Romney
Anti-Mormonism 2012, take 1
By Mark Silk — October 10, 2011
It’s possible that the overt anti-Mormonism expressed by Robert Jeffress and Bryan Fischer represents little more than frantic concern among the evangelical elite that the Republican nomination is in imminent danger of slipping into the hands of a heretic. As Sarah Posner pointed out over the weekend, last time around the anti-Mormonism was more discreet. […]
Romney’s national marriage posture
By Mark Silk — August 12, 2011
In last evening’s GOP presidential debate, Mitt Romney was asked by Byron York of the Washington Examiner whether he thought state legislators (as in New York) had the right to make same-sex marriage legal in their states. Romney answered: I’d far prefer having the [representatives of the] people make that decision than justices. But I […]
Here comes Iowa
By Mark Silk — July 11, 2011
After avoiding “white evangelicals” like yesterday’s coffee, the political reporting class has dusted off its old Rolodexes and discovered that when it comes to Iowa, it’s all about, well, white evangelicals. As in, where’s the Huckabee vote going? The big deal event of the summer is the Ames straw poll August 13, which WaPo’s Chris […]
Romney v. Susan B. Anthony Pledge
By Mark Silk — June 22, 2011
Mitt Romney’s refusal to sign the “Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge” cooked up by the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List looks like smart politics to me. The pledge is nowhere near as straightforward as the the quadrennial Republican Party platform’s abortion plank, which for a generation has called for a constitutional ban. Rather, it’s a carefully […]
Mormons on parade
By Mark Silk — June 6, 2011
Both Mormon presidential wannabes showed up at Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition (FFC) confab in Washington and managed to let the white evangelicals in the audience know who they were without actually using the M-word. After beginning his talk with a litany of anti-abortionism, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman gave a big shout-out to […]
GOP betting line: Huckabee v. Romney
By Mark Silk — March 16, 2011
According to the latest WaPo/ABC poll, Mike Huckabee is the top choice for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Mitt Romney is a close second. The Post‘s lede this morning is that Sarah Palin’s numbers among Republicans are heading south, which is a good story. But I’ve yet to see Beltway political scribes giving Huck serious […]
Huckabee, looking good
By Mark Silk — February 25, 2011
Gallup’s new portrait of GOP presidential candidate preferences by issue preference displays some moderately interesting features. Among frontrunners Huckabee, Romney, and Palin, Huckabee is the choice of social conservatives; Romney, of economic conservatives; and Palin, of foreign policy conservatives. Mostly the differences are not great but a couple stand out. Huckabee is weak with those […]
Huckabee and CHRISTIANS?
By Mark Silk — July 6, 2009
In a post on who gets the vote of “religious conservatives,” Steve Waldman writes: That leaves Huckabee. As a former Baptist minister himself, he has standing to criticize Palin without being cast as anti-Christian. Mainstream media mistakenly assume that Huckabee failed last time because his base was too limited to religious conservatives. Actually, he fared […]
Trusting Mormons
By Mark Silk — August 15, 2008
My proposed linkage between anti-Mormon prejudice among evangelicals and the persistent flip-flop charge against Romney has drawn some interest, and raised the question of how one might go about demonstrating it. In a comment, Lowell Brown, who posts over at Article6, expressed the wish for some empirical evidence: “Now, did Romney make some Christians distrust […]
Sadder but Wiser
By Mark Silk — August 13, 2008
In an interview with John Green last week, former Romney campaign adviser Mark DeMoss (and one time chief of staff to Jerry Falwell) said pretty much straight out that it was Mike Huckabee who sunk the Romney campaign: Would I like the president to share my faith? Sure. Would I like Mitt Romney’s credentials and […]
The Romney Perplex
By Mark Silk — August 4, 2008
I’m still catching up from last week, and in the process this piece by the Washington Times‘ Ralph Z. Hallow caught my eye. The questions it raises have to do with the extent of evangelical antipathy to Mitt Romney, and the degree to which it is based on anti-Mormonism or concerns about Romney’s less than […]
Return of the Romneys
By rvineis — February 25, 2008
Mitt Romney’s son, Josh, told the Desert Morning News today that he is considering running for Congress. More interesting is his belief that Mormonism cost his father a win in Iowa. Josh Romney said “When it’s religion, you definitely take it personally. It’s highly offensive, but I think that the vast majority of people we […]
Anti-Mormonism
By Mark Silk — February 13, 2008
Prior to Mitt Romney’s withdrawal, there were five exit polls in states with high percentages of evangelicals that asked how much a candidate’s religious beliefs mattered: Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Mike Huckabee won Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, and came in second to John McCain in Oklahoma and South Carolina. Romney came in […]
Romney Campaign, RIP
By Mark Silk — February 12, 2008
So what’s the verdict on the religious significance of Mitt Romney’s run? Here are some provisional thoughts. 1. Romney’s Mormonism did hurt him. There were evangelicals who voted for him, but in those states where they are thickest on the ground, there were too many who didn’t. As a generic Protestant, he would, I suspect, […]
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