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David Adesnik, a research analyst in Washington DC, received his doctorate in international relations from Oxford.
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How Appealing
# Posted 3:17 PM by Ariel David Adesnik 
"I don't believe that conservative Christians in large numbers will vote for a Mormon but that remains to be seen, I guess."Left unstated was the presumption that some Christian conservatives still see Mormonism as heretical. Yet earlier this year, Jerry Falwell came down on the side of tolerance (surprisingly enough):
"If he's pro-life, pro-family, I don't think he'll have any problem getting the support of evangelical Christians."Some might say that anything bad for Romney is good for McCain. But I disagree. First, I stand for the principle that a candidate's faith should never stand in the way of his winning an office. (Rare exception: If Al Qaeda put up a candidate for office, religion would be an issue.)
Second, and more importantly, any effort to malign Romney because of his faith will create a climate of intolerance that may hurt McCain as well. In addition, this kind of intolerance will hurt the GOP in 2008. (Hat tip: PH) (1) opinions -- Add your opinion
That's never going to change, just as the Mormons will always view Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christianity as heretical.
But does being a heretic make someone unelectable? Hard to tell; Americans were willing to elect a Deist to the presidency in 1800, but no Catholics until 1960. The national electability of Mormons remains to be seen.
Romney has another albatross around his neck: he's from Massachusetts. Northeastern Republicans tend to be fiscal liberals, and after Bush betrayed such conservatives with regard to spending, the GOP base is getting pretty damn impatient for government fiscal control. Don't know if Romney is a fiscal conservative.
If he's not, he could be an evangelical Christian and still be toast. If so, and he's not a liberal on other significant issues (esp. immigration, another Bush failing), then we'll find out if the Mormon thing is an albatross.
