Romney to Speak About His Religion

ECHOING KENNEDY

Romney to Speak About His Religion

After months of internal deliberation, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) has decided to give a speech directly addressing his Mormon faith, much like then-candidate John F. Kennedy did about his Catholicism before the 1960 election.

Romney has said for months that he saw no need to make an issue out of his religion, despite surveys that have suggested that some voters, especially in the South, are less likely to vote for him because of it. In a Washington Post poll earlier this year, his faith was regarded as a bigger stumbling block than the race of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or the gender of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

But yesterday, Romney's campaign announced that he will give a speech about his faith Thursday at the George H. W. Bush presidential library in Texas. In a statement, spokesman Kevin Madden said that Romney will deliver a speech titled "Faith in America."

"This speech is an opportunity for Governor Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor's own faith would inform his Presidency if he were elected," according to the statement. "Governor Romney understands that faith is an important issue to many Americans, and he personally feels this moment is the right moment for him to share his views with the nation."

In the statement, Madden said that Romney decided to give the speech "sometime last week" and that the venue of the speech should not be interpreted as an endorsement of Romney's campaign by the former president, who has remained neutral in the Republican nomination contest.

-- Michael D. Shear

THE NEW COLLEGE TRY

Obama Courting Iowa Students for Caucuses

The quadrennial effort to lure college students to the Iowa caucuses has become complicated because the Jan. 3 vote is occurring while most colleges are on winter break. So Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat who has made strong appeals to young voters a focus of his presidential campaign, is taking action before students go home for the holidays.

His campaign has peppered Iowa universities and colleges with fliers encouraging out-of-state students to come back to Iowa early so they can vote. "If you are not from Iowa, you can come back for the Iowa caucus and caucus in your college neighborhood," the flier states, offering a toll-free number (888-OBAMAIA) that students can call to figure out where they should go on Jan. 3.