Romney: Faith shouldn't count in race

It would be like 'what you see in ... Middle East'

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 3, 2007 at midnight

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URBANDALE, Iowa - Everywhere he goes, people keep asking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney about his Mormon faith.

But applying religious tests to the presidential race would be like "what you see in countries in the Middle East," and shouldn't be a factor in 2008, Romney said Thursday.

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Romney downplayed the possible effects of any "whispering campaign" about his religion, although he said he isn't surprised that he has gotten extra scrutiny because of his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

"The campaigns, and of course the American citizens, are free to look at what they'd like to. I fundamentally believe in the final analysis, people don't decide who to vote for based on where they go to church."

The interview touched on the Iraq war, abortion, fellow Republicans and other topics.

Questions and answers have been edited for length. For a complete transcript, go to Back Roads to the White House blog

Thanks for mentioning your Colorado Springs visit. So tell us about specific things you think that you offer to Colorado voters that set you apart on issues from some of your Republican competition.

We had a town-meeting-style event in Colorado Springs, and one of the individuals there explained that he had a son that had been serving in Iraq, and said he was encouraged by the progress, but now and then the morale suffered by virtue of the criticism that they read in the U.S. media of what they were doing there.

I've heard that from time to time that a number of our soldiers sometimes get dispirited as they see the discussions here in this country.

And so after that, I was with my nephew, Doug Robinson, of Denver. We were just driving in the car, and he said, "You know, Mitt, you ought to call for a surge of support on the part of all Americans." And he was the one who suggested encouraging folks to make contributions to groups like the USO and others that are supporting our soldiers and their families. We then put the names of the kinds of groups that people can contribute to on my Web site and I've called for that surge of support.

Whether you're the nominee or anyone else is the nominee, do you think that the Republican Party this year has to nominate somebody who has proven they can win in Democratic areas?

I think it's one measure of the potential of an individual to be successful but not the only one. I think far more important is the character and vision of the candidate. I think the most important element of my having been successful in Massachusetts is not just showing that I was able to win a Democrat state, but that I was able to work with Democrat legislators . . . that I was able to work across the aisle.

One of your opponents in the race, Sen. Brownback, on the abortion issue, says, "I want to be the person that nominates the judge, or Justice, that overturns Roe v. Wade." Do you go that far?

I would hope to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and allow the states to have the freedom to develop their own policies and become "pro-life" if they wish to do so. That is something which I feel should occur.

Do you feel strongly enough about that that you would make that the test for your first Supreme Court nominee?

The political reality is that if you apply a litmus test, that's going to be a non-starter for the opposition party. It would be sufficient to scuttle that nominee.

Are you surprised that religion has been such an issue?

Not really surprised. The campaigns, and of course the American citizens are free to look at what they'd like to. I don't think you'll see that being a factor in the final analysis for who is our nominee.

Do you see yourself at all as a role model, in a sense, for your faith?

My campaign is about running for a secular position. As Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention said, "We're not electing a pastor in chief." People will look at me as they will. It's not something I can shape or form. And I hope they're able to evaluate me based on my ability to strengthen America . . . .

(If elected) how is your Iraq policy, immediately, going to look any different than President Bush's Iraq policy?

My policy would have looked very different over the last three to four years following the collapse of Saddam Hussein. Today, the troop surge policy is in my opinion the best course we have available to us. I do not believe it's a certainty that it'll be successful. I am encouraged by the report that we saw from Brookings over the weekend - a nonpartisan group that weighed in and said that their perception was that the surge is working. I certainly hope that's the case. But I can tell you that I will make decisions based on thorough analysis of data. Not just opinion but cold, hard facts, and based upon the input of people who disagree with me.

Is that a problem in the current administration?

I'm not inside the current administration, so I can't make an assessment of how decisions are made, but in my own life I have been one who has benefited from what Doris Kearns Goodwin has called the "team of rivals." I like having people of differing viewpoints. I need disagreement to make good decisions.

A big Red Sox fan she (Goodwin) is, as well, isn't she?

There are a lot of things that bring liberals and conservatives together. Perhaps none higher in Massachusetts than the Red Sox.

On the Iraq war, are you afraid of the pressures of public opinion? Do you sometimes have to go against popular opinion?

You know, if I had grown up in politics and all I cared about was winning elections, I could see how an individual might be very concerned about public opinion. I'm not in this for politics. My life has been in the private sector, and the love of my life is my wife and my family. I'm in this to make a difference for America. And if I find that the American people significantly disagree with me, that means there are two things I have to do. Number one, understand why they think the way they do, and see if there's something that I may be missing. But number two, if I'm convinced that I'm right and they're not right, then I need to do the job of educating and communicating why I believe what I believe.

Last thoughts on Colorado-specific issues?

I'm am very concerned about . . . the whole range of issues that relate to federal usurpation of states' authorities. And that is something which I think people of Colorado care about. But Coloradans, based upon my experience, care about some of the issues that the rest of the country cares about, but in some cases with a little more passion and energy, such as great education, excellent health care for all citizens, cleaning up the environment, and reducing the impact of human activity on the global environment.

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