I blieve your "real world" experience, but it wouldn't rule out Romney for me. I've known Mormons too, and I have never met one I didn't like.
"I have never met one I didn't like."
I will introduce you to half a dozen crooks and nutbags any time. Start with Harry Reid, he is in the generic mold.
I've said the same thing myself many a time, starting from my graduate school (which had many) and continuing over many years and throughout the country. None can ever explain where those Golden Tablets got off to, but they always turn out to be great people.
My mother's parents were Mormon as are my next door neighbors of 25 years. They are all great people and I have yet to see them with their horns and forked tails exposed.
You said -- "I've known Mormons too, and I have never met one I didn't like."
And you've probably never met one that was a Christian either.
Unless they've totally renounced their group's teachings and given up their "extra-curricular" sources of authority (outside of the Bible). But, then again -- if they did that -- they wouldn't be a Mormon, would they?
They are defined, in Christian terms and in its theology as a *cult*.
Documentation provided from many many sources. A good starting point is a classic work on the cults from Walter Martin -- called "The Kingdom of the Cults" --
http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Cults-Walter-Martin/dp/0764228218/
There's much more out there, and there's no disputing that they're not Christian, with ample documentation from all sorts of Christian theologians (from different Christian denominations, no less).
Regards,
Star Traveler