Romney for President, 2008?

Mitt Romney, governor of Massachusetts, has been one of those "mentioned" repeatedly as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2008. I am sure Romney wants to be mentioned, of course, and this week's Weekly Standard cover story does much more than mention him. Terry Eastland does a very fair job, I think, of covering Romney's political background. More important, Eastland's piece is the first one I have seen that explores, in depth, the possible political impact of Romney's membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed the "Mormon" Church). As a member of that church who is accustomed to misreprepresentation of my beliefs in the news media, I always read press treatments of such matters with apprehension, wondering if the story will be fair, will quote someone saying something malicious, or will ridicule or condescend.

Not this time. Eastland's article is no valentine, but it tells the truth (as far as I know) and does it fairly. I don't know yet if I will support Mitt Romney for the 2008 nomination, although I am certainly favorably inclined to do so-- not because he is a member of my church, but because of all he brings to the presidential table. (After all, Harry Reid is also a Mormon, but I wouldn't vote for Reid if he were running for dogcatcher. I understand Reid is a fine man, but a candidate's religious creed is no reason to vote for or against him or her. In fact, I think it's un-American to vote that way.)

In any event, I am happy to see that the first in-depth exploration of Romney's candidacy in a major publication has been so even-handed. Now let's see what George Allen has to say about the issues.

And Bill Frist.

But not John McCain, and not Chuck Hagel.

To read the Weekly Standard story, click here.

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt finds the Weekly Standard story very important. Here's his analysis. Hugh's a very influential center-right commentator and talk show host who is also an unabashed and openly evangelical Christian, so his opinion matters. [Disclaimer: Hugh's my "blogfather," and I owe the existence of, and inspiration for, this blog to him. So I care a lot about what Hugh says.]