By Robert D. Novak
Friday, October 5, 2007; A21

When Mitt Romney appeared last week (via closed circuit from California) before the Council of Retired Chief Executives in Washington, he faced kindred souls: rich Republicans who had managed big enterprises. Yet the second question from the audience was whether Romney's Mormon faith was hurting his quest for the Republican presidential nomination. He replied that about the only people who brought up his religion were members of the media, an answer that simply is untrue.

Romney is asked about Mormonism wherever he goes. In my travels, I find his religion cited everywhere as a source of opposition to his candidacy. His statement to the former chief executives that reporters are the only ones who care about this issue sounded like a politician's tired evasion. Romney's answer suggested that he is either too obtuse to appreciate his problem or is stalling because he has not decided how to deal with it. Contact with his advisers indicates that it's the latter.

Although there is still disagreement within the Romney camp, the consensus is that he must address the Mormon question with a speech deploring bias. According to campaign sources, a speech has been written, though 90 percent of it could still be changed. It has not yet been determined exactly what he will say or at what point he will deliver a speech that could determine the outcome of the 2008 election.

Romney would seem to be a near-perfect Republican candidate: articulate, handsome, and able to raise funds and write his own checks. He has become sufficiently conservative on social issues where he once strayed leftward. He is the only Republican candidate unequivocally opposed to gay marriage and the only one who signed a pledge not to increase taxes. He is acceptable enough to non-Republicans to have been elected governor of very blue Massachusetts -- where, unlike three GOP predecessors, he actually governed as a Republican.

But last year I began to hear from loyal Republicans that they could never vote for Romney because of his religion. When I asked Romney about this in April 2006, he was in denial. I subsequently wrote that month that Romney had to make "a stronger response than he now envisions" -- a declaration that "the imposition of a religious test on U.S. politics is unfair, unreasonable and un-American." That was disputed in e-mails sent to me by self-professed Republicans who insisted that Mormonism is a cult.

Despite his response to the retired chief executives, Romney is no longer in denial. A Newsweek poll found that 28 percent of Americans would not vote for any member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- demonstrating much greater hostility than to a Jewish or African American candidate. Mormonism is the only minority category toward which bias has deepened.

This prejudice may explain why Romney trails competitors in national polls. But no one has emerged as the choice of the Republican establishment. Rudy Giuliani offends social conservatives. John McCain seems a spent force. Fred Thompson has not yet fulfilled his promise. What's more, Romney leads in Iowa and New Hampshire, where victories would propel him ahead in national polls and probably secure him the nomination. Will the Grand Old Party find itself with a nominee who cannot be elected because of his religion?

It is certain that sooner or later, Romney will address the nation. His task is vastly more complicated than John F. Kennedy's was on Sept. 12, 1960, when he told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association that, as president, he would not take orders from the pope. Romney will no more attempt to explain Mormon theology than Kennedy ventured into Roman Catholic doctrine. He will do what I wrote 17 months ago that he had to do: deplore a religious test as un-American.

Romney will have one shot to get it right, with no chance for a mulligan. Some supporters think he should speak (as JFK did) only after being nominated. More likely it will come earlier. One key adviser sees the optimum time coming after an early victory in Iowa that makes him the front-runner. Whenever, it would be the single most important speech of the campaign for Romney -- or for any candidate.

¿ 2007 Creators Syndicate Inc.