President Romney

I don’t know how much of this is getting out around the US:

Report Says LDS Church Leaders Knew of Meeting With Romney

Romney pal takes blame for dust-up

“In the e-mails, Don Stirling, a paid consultant for Romney's political action committee, told Sheri Dew, the chief executive officer of LDS Church-owned Deseret Book Co., that church President Gordon B. Hinckley and a top lieutenant, James E. Faust, were aware of the effort and raised no objections - a claim strongly denied by the LDS Church.”

It would be bad if this were true but it’s he said they said for now. But it's something to keep an eye on, as it will be used to eat at his chances, and not by the left (primarily :-)).

Regardless, I’ve thought it could be best for some religions to just start paying taxes, and gain the legal ability to endorse whoever they think is best for their religious ethics. On top of matching ethics, a President Romney would undoubtedly be a great boon for the LDS church. It would give them credibility and normalize what the rest of the world sees as quite odd ;-). I doubt an endorsement will be forthcoming, but bet many LDS fingers are crossed, for good reason.

While admittedly I’d not want him to win (not because he's LDS, to be sure, but because of his politics), it will be interesting to see how Romney’s candidacy progresses. Being LDS and being gay are nearer to the same sin in some parts. It seems Gallup shows about 37% of the population would not vote for a Mormon (surprisingly, about what it is for atheists). I could only find that 59% would vote for a homosexual, no mention of how many would not.

I found this on evangelical pastor opinions alone, though:

"The results indicate a heavy bias against Mormons. While 63% of those surveyed said they would vote for a Jew and 64% said they would vote for a Catholic, when asked about a Mormon candidate, their feelings were opposite: 76% said they would not vote for a Mormon, nearly as many as the 86% who said they would not vote for a homosexual."