Couric & Co.
December 6, 2007 1:56 PM

"The Most Important Speech Of Romney's Political Career"

By
Greg Kandra
Topics
Politics

How did Mitt Romney's "religion speech" play? You can see it in the video link on the left.

Meantime, Brian Montopoli, over at the Horserace blog, posted this summary from CBS News's Scott Conroy:
For months, political pundits speculated about whether Mitt Romney would deliver the "Mormon speech." But today's address was not about the candidate's faith. Romney only uttered the word "Mormon" once during his remarks in College Station, Texas, instead focusing on the role that religious diversity has played in American history and the importance of restoring faith in the public sphere.

The speech was likely the most important of Romney's political career, and the event felt more like a State of the Union address than a campaign stop. Many of Romney's Boston-based staffers made the trip to Texas, and the Secret Service was out in force to protect former President George H.W. Bush, who introduced the former Massachusetts governor. The campaign even released a photograph of Governor Romney making final edits to his speech, as if to draw attention to the enormity of this event.

Although the comparisons are inevitable John F. Kennedy's iconic 1960 speech that dealt with the then Democratic nominee's Catholic faith, Governor Romney only briefly alluded to President Kennedy and did not mention him by name.

"Like him, I am an American running for president," Romney said. "I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith."

The biggest applause line from the invitation-only crowd of over 400 who filled the auditorium here came when Romney hearkened back to another political icon from his home state of Massachusetts—an American legend who achieved fame during the Revolutionary era, rather than the time of Camelot...
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