Mormon Base a Mixed Blessing for Romney

Church spokesman Michael Purdy reiterated the church's neutrality. "You need to make a clear distinction between the church as an institution and what members do as individuals," he said in an e-mail interview. "The church's mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians."

Such is the strength of the Mormon network, though, that rules against endorsing or using church lists do not diminish its value. "You have official statements from church headquarters and then the actual activity of everyone below that level," said University of Utah political scientist Ronald Hrebenar, who is not Mormon. "There is this network, they know who they are and how to contact each other, and it can be enormously useful."

This description fits the Management Society. Society chapter leaders around the country say they discourage fellow members or guest speakers from making direct appeals on behalf of Romney or other candidates during their chapters' monthly luncheons. But inevitably, lines blur somewhat, members say.

In Las Vegas, the chapter's president, Adam Creer, is also on Romney's Nevada fundraising committee, and he sent e-mails to many of the chapter's roughly 80 members inviting them to the March event at the Las Vegas Four Seasons hotel, which drew 350 people.

Creer, a security systems executive, did not return calls. A member of the chapter's board, Phil Richards, said that it was no surprise society members would be raising money for Romney but that they tried to keep that separate.

"The Management Society does not . . . have anything to do with elections," Richards said. "Now, do people in the [society] gravitate towards certain kinds of candidates? They probably do. Of course we have favorites."

The enthusiasm for Romney is most open in online networking sites such as Facebook.com, where Mormon students predominate in pro-Romney chat rooms. But the students also discuss the challenge in promoting Romney without provoking bias. Krissie Ostlund, 20, a community college student in Dunkirk, Md., urged others to explain Mormonism to friends and thereby pave the way for Romney.

"Talk about it. Bring it up with Bill the checker at Safeway," she wrote. "Use it as a tool to familiarize other people with what it means to be a member of the [church] and why having an LDS president would be ideal."

Database editor Sarah Cohen contributed to this report.