In the end, I think the "Faith in America" speech will be a net
positive for Romney, but perhaps not in the way everybody is
expecting. In response to Kathryn Jean Lopez's
prediction that the speech will be "heavy on religous liberty,"
Ramesh Ponnuru
writes that "the case that voters shouldn't hold his Mormonism
against him is not the same as the case for religious liberty, and
it would be a big mistake for him to suggest that people who hold
reservations about electing a Mormon president are hostile to
religious liberty." I don't actually think this will end up being
about winning voters who are uncomfortable with the idea of
electing a Mormon president. The speech will be heavily covered on
the news and he'll be touching on the themes of religious liberty
and tolerance that are among the founding principles of our nation.
He'll likely come off as a pretty decent guy, talking about how
great America is, and some undecided voters will warm up to him. It
just may not be the demographic of undecided voters that everybody
is talking about (evangelicans who are suspicious of
Mormonism).