Questions Loom for Romney’s Surging Campaign
Romney
Cape Cod Times
Paul Crocetti
Boston University Washington News Service
November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 — While Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani have better name recognition, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s fundraising skills could help push him towards the top of the list of Republican presidential contenders, according to some political observers.
By April 2007, Romney should be able to reach a fundraising goal of $30 million, according to Alex Vogel, a political strategist speaking at the 9th annual American Democracy Conference in Washington. The event, sponsored by the magazine National Journal, featured discussions analyzing the recent midterm elections and looking ahead to the 2008 elections.
Questions remain for Romney, though. Perhaps the biggest issue concerns his Mormon background. No Mormon has ever been elected president.
“The people in this room will hear the [Mormon] question until it’s embarrassing,” said Jan van Lohuizen, a Romney pollster. “It’s almost there now. We’re already down to underwear.”
Van Lohuizen is referring to a writer for the Atlantic Monthly who asked Romney if he wears Temple Garments, sacred underclothing worn by some Mormons. Romney declined to answer.
Many people in 1960 questioned whether the country was ready for a Catholic president. But John F. Kennedy ran as a Democratic candidate who happened to be Catholic rather than a Catholic candidate, van Lohuizen said.
“We’re not going to run on the Mormon question,” he said. “We get it.”
Between 20 and 40 percent of the population would not consider voting for a Mormon for president, according to several polls. But some think the issue is overblown.
“I think that in this country today, voters are much more thoughtful and tolerant,” said Mark McKinnon, a media consultant for McCain. “I think the country is ready for a Mormon president, a black president, a woman president.”
Romney has played down his religion in his home state. But he’s also been out of Massachusetts a lot lately, visiting such campaign hotspots as Iowa and South Carolina.
And Democrats argue that the recent elections also hurt Romney’s candidacy. His lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey, lost November’s election for governor by a wide margin to Democrat Deval Patrick.
Brian Dodge, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, denied any anti-Romney sentiment in Massachusetts.
“Governor Romney’s record will stand on its own,” he said in a telephone interview. “He’s done all the things we’ve asked him to do. He’s balanced the budget without raising taxes. The economy has grown to twice the national rate. That’s the legacy he’ll leave for Massachusetts.”
But Philip Johnston, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said that Patrick’s election hurt Romney’s status.
“His policies of the last four years were rejected,” Johnston said in a telephone interview. “Polls show that Romney is very unpopular in Massachusetts.”
Another question is whether his performance as governor can trump any negative effects the country’s anti-Bush sentiment has on GOP candidates.
Romney’s support of Bush’s policies, particularly his support of the war in Iraq, will be an issue, Johnston said.
But the panelists at the conference agreed that, for GOP presidential contenders, shunning Bush would be a mistake.
“Why run against Bush?” asked van Lohuizen. “You can run against Congress.”
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