I’ve blogged previously about how–not matter how good a guy he may be personally–Mitt Romney is not electable to the presidency because–even if he is faced with someone like Hillary Clinton–a large enough percentage of the Christian vote (and specifically the Evangelical vote) will simply stay home rather than vote for a Mormon–the efforst of EvangelicalsForMitt notwithstanding.
There were a number of Evangelical supporters of Romney at GodBlogCon, and the topic of his electability came up in panel discussion moderated by Hugh Hewitt. Panelist John Mark Reynolds (who is a really nice guy, BTW, and who spoke admiringly of "John Paul the Great" and "Benedict" and the leadership they have shown in building the culture of life) spoke in favor of Romney, and a blogger in the audience asked how many present would refuse to vote for Romney simply because he is a Mormon–expecting a very small number of hands to go up.
More went up than he seemed to be expecting.
It wasn’t a majority of those in the audience, but (a) it doesn’t have to be a majority, just enough to lose a crucial fraction of the vote in a nation that has been having closely-divided presidential elections of late and (b) these were the people who (1) knew enough about what Mormons believe and (2) had thought through the issue enough to have an opinion already and (3) were willing to announce their opposition in public and potentially be labeled bigots and (4) were willing to defy prominent bloggers who had just been speaking in favor of Mitt and why Christians should be willing to vote for him.
Among those who raised their hands was another panelist: La Shawn Barber.
Which brings up the fact that, should Mitt get nominated, some opinion leaders in the Evangelical world will be refusing to support him, and some will be speaking out against him.
Like it or not, there is enough opposition to Mormonism in the Christian community to cost him the fraction of the vote needed to win.
But he’s not the only much-talked-about candidate in that condition.
There’s also Rudy Guiliani.
Joe Carter–another GodBlogCon speaker–recently wrote an ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING indictment of Guiliani’s potential candidacy and why he also is simply unelectable.
He concludes the idictment by saying:
The real question is not whether Rudy can win Republican nomination but rather why anyone takes his candidacy seriously. It’s understandable when Democrats swoon over some completely unqualified candidate (once again, see: Barack Obama). Republicans, though, are expected to be a bit more coolly rational than the emotion-based community. Yes, its true that Rudy was a star on 9/11 and he deserves the highest praise for his leadership in a time of crisis. Yet keep in mind that George Bush was also considered to have done a stellar job during that particularly trying time in our nation’s history. When a sense of normalcy returned, though, the shine wore off the President. The same will happen with Giuliani long before he wins the GOP nomination.
Let’s hope he’s right.
In the meantime,
