Romney seeks JFK moment

Evangelical leaders said Monday that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R) decision to give a speech on his Mormon faith this week provides an opportunity for him to reach out to religious conservatives and ease the concerns some might have about voting for a Mormon candidate.

But those leaders cautioned that while Romney’s speech is being widely compared to one John F. Kennedy gave on Catholicism in 1960, Romney faces a different set of challenges.

{mosads}“JFK had an advantage in going into that speech in 1960,” Gary Bauer, head of American Values, said. “A significant percentage of the American people were Catholic. Gov. Romney’s dilemma is that his faith is very much a minority faith,” said Bauer, who has not endorsed a GOP candidate but said there are contenders he prefers to Romney.

Romney “personally” made the decision to give Thursday’s speech, entitled “Faith in America,” which was announced after Romney rival and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) was seen surging in Iowa, according to the campaign.

“The speech is an opportunity for Gov. Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor’s own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said in a statement.

A discussion over whether Romney would give such a speech has followed the former governor since he entered the race, and Madden said Romney made the decision to go with it last week. The former governor has acknowledged that many in his camp have advised against giving such a speech, as it will almost definitely put a lot of focus squarely on Romney’s faith.

“Gov. Romney understands that faith is an important issue to many Americans, and he personally feels this moment is the right moment for him to share his views with the nation,” Madden said.

The issue of Romney’s religion has continued to follow him around the campaign trail, and last month, an unknown entity started making push-poll phone calls in Iowa and New Hampshire painting Romney’s religion in a negative light.

Coupled with the surging Huckabee’s past as a Baptist minister, the timing was seen as necessary by some analysts and risky by others.

“There’s some evidence that the lack of knowledge about the Church of Latter-Day Saints is a problem for some voters,” Bauer said. Romney needs to use the speech to “ease those concerns” and show that, as president, “he would be dealing with matters of state and not matters of the church,” Bauer said.

Bauer added that one reason for the timing of the speech could be the former governor’s frustration that he continues to see little improvement in national polls. The speech, which is sure to draw widespread media attention, could be a good way for Romney to introduce himself to voters, Bauer said.

The Manchester, N.H. Union Leader reported Monday afternoon that Romney told reporters that he will not be delivering a lesson on Mormonism and does not think his faith will be the deciding factor in the race for the GOP nomination.

“I don’t know that even at this stage that my faith is a significant factor in my race,” Romney said, according to the report.

At least one religious group, Faith in Public Life, which according to its website “envisions a country in which diverse religious voices for justice and the common good consistently impact public policy; and those who use religion as a tool of division and exclusion do not dominate public discourse,” accused Romney of planning the speech out of panic.

“We wish it wasn’t a state of political emergency that drove Mr. Romney to give this speech,” said the Rev. Jennifer Butler, executive director of the group. “But if he speaks candidly and authentically about how his faith informs his politics, we are all ears.”  

Romney already has one advantage heading into the speech, as he is set to deliver it from the President George H.W. Bush Library in College Station, Texas. The Romney campaign, however, cautioned that the invitation to speak there does not constitute an endorsement from the former president.

Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said she thinks Romney is making the right decision in addressing his faith, and the timing is good following Huckabee’s surge.

Conway said Romney can score a lot of points if he talks about the overall “assault on religion” she and other Republicans see in the country. She also said Romney should talk about the role faith has had in his life and his career.

“If he cast it in broader terms, he doesn’t have much to lose,” Conway said.

Conway said she thinks it is unfair that Romney has been targeted by some for his religion, and he should use the speech to convey that his religion is “as congenital a part of his DNA as Hillary’s gender and Obama’s race.”