[Miss Marple]

Pluses:

Saved the Salt Lake Olympics (which were held right after 9/11 under well-organized, heavy security)
Able to overcome a huge democrat machine in Massachusetts
Has run Massachusetts without scandal
Sterling personal life with a photogenic family
Smart and articulate
Looks "presidential"

Minuses:

Mormon faith
Not as conservative on some issues (health care, for example)
Probably won't be able to carry Massachusetts in a national election

Make some lists for other candidates and see what you come up with. Romney looks better when you look at his competition.

Now...back out to the yard!

[Bahbah]

Probably won't be able to carry Massachusetts in a national election

I don't think there is any Republican who can carry Mass. in a national election. I don't get the problem with his faith. I have had friends over the years who were Mormons and they were great people, very family oriented, hard working and trustworthy, and deeply patriotic.

[AZConser]

Mormon faith

The nation got over a bias against a Catholic running for President in JFK (Kennedy, not Kerry)

[OldFriend]

I admire the way Romney dealt with the health care issue. He subsidized the poor working families, enabling them to BUY health care from private providers.

Better to subsidize coverage than pay when the health issues are catastrophic.

Sacriledge to many freepers, but so be it.

We cannot simply turn our backs on the working poor.

[Phsstpok]

I agree on everything you said about Romney, including this

Probably won't be able to carry Massachusetts in a national election

But he's definitely got the best shot of any Republican and he has a shot at making states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and New York competitive based on their familiarity and comfort with him.  At the very least he'd force the Dhimmicrats to spend huge amounts of money in what would otherwise be solid blue states and that's a good thing.