Copyright (c) 2019 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
"Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president," Romney said, referring to John F. Kennedy's famous speech. "Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.
The speech at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library came as Mike Huckabee, a dark horse GOP candidate just weeks ago, has surged in the polls and threatens to win the votes of the same social conservative evangelicals Romney is courting. Of the five most recent polls in Iowa -- which votes first on Jan. 3 -- Huckabee leads in three, Romney in two. Additionally, Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, was leading among Republicans in two new South Carolina polls released Dec. 6 and was in second place nationally behind Rudy Giuliani in a Dec. 4 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, does not endorse candidates but was in attendance for the speech at the invitation of Romney. Land said he believes Mormonism falls outside the boundaries of orthodox Christianity but that Romney addressed evangelicals' main concerns.
Land added that "to the extent" that Romney needed to address his Mormon beliefs, "he addressed them." It was Land that in late 2006 suggested to Romney that he give such a speech.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson applauded the speech.
Romney said he would not address the "distinctive doctrines" of his religion, nor should other candidates be required to do that.
"Whether it was the cause of abolition or civil rights or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people," he said.
Romney still holds a double-digit lead in New Hampshire, which votes Jan. 8 and where Huckabee is in third or fourth place, but Romney is battling with Huckabee in at least a few other states. South Carolina, the first state in the South to vote, has seen Huckabee take the lead in two new polls. The former Arkansas governor has 23 percent to Giuliani's and Fred Thompson's 17 percent in an Insider Advantage poll of 670 likely voters while Romney has 14 percent. A Rasmussen Reports poll of 654 likely voters has Huckabee at 25 percent and Romney and Thompson tied at 18 percent. South Carolina's GOP primary is Jan. 19.
The aforementioned L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll of 428 likely GOP voters has Giuliani in front at 23 percent followed by Huckabee (17 percent), Thompson (14), John McCain (11) and Romney (9).
Michael Foust is assistant editor of Baptist Press.
Formed in 1946 by the Southern Baptist Convention, and supported with Cooperative Program funds, Baptist Press (BP) is a daily (Monday-Friday) international news service. Operating from a central bureau in Nashville, Tenn., BP works with a large network of contributing writers, photographers and editorial providers to produce BP News.
