[bobjam]

The Mormon thing is something for the talking heads and nothing more. The "doctrinal oddities" (as a strict Southern Baptist might call them) of pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism didn't hurt JFK in the Bible Belt. He won Georgia by a bigger margin than Massachusetts.

The real question is Romney's committment to the conservative agenda. Yeah, he won Massachusetts- there's a reason for that, and it goes beyond good looks and a suave demeanor. Anyone meeting the approval of the people who have bestowed upon our nation Barney Frank, John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, Casey Weld and the entire Kennedy clan is already suspect at best.

A liberal Republican is more dangerous than a liberal Democrat.

[Airborne1986]

"Yeah, he won Massachusetts- there's a reason for that, and it goes beyond good looks and a suave demeanor."

As a Massachusetts Republican, I am unimpressed with Mitt as a politician. First he lost to Ted Kennedy in 1994 when Ted was probably his most vulnerable. Mitt did not seem ready for prime time at all. He was then MIA in MA until 2002 when he was drafted to run for Governor only because the current Republic acting Governor, Jane Swift, seemed destined for certain defeat. For the first few months he ran a very flat campaign and was losing to an unabashed tax and spend liberal woman, Shannon O'Brien. O'Brien made no effort to hide the fact that she was ready to start raising taxes. Even in MA, that is a bad call. O'Brien got sloppy near the end and Mitt won mostly because O'Brien was an even worse candidate. In recent polling for the 2006 Governor's race, Mitt is losing to the Democrat AG who has all the charisma of a postage stamp. Allen, Rudy or McCain would crush Mitt.