Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney looks to be signing up a strong team of consultants and advisers for his '08 presidential bid. The Salt Lake Tribune profiles Team Romney - and tries to make an issue of the religious affiliations of Romney's campaign staffers:

While Romney's Mormon faith is expected to be a big hurdle in his race, his campaign is not stocked with those of his own religion. There's a broad spectrum of faiths. Romney's front man for the media, Jared Young, for example, is a Southern Baptist who graduated from the fundamentalist Bob Jones University.

[Romney's] Commonwealth PAC declined to say how many Mormons were on staff, and Young said he actually didn't know the specific faith of many people on Romney's team because the governor has no religious litmus test. "Governor Romney and the Commonwealth PAC look to hire the best-qualified people regardless of their religious background or beliefs," Young said in a statement.

The only people making an issue of Romney's religious faith - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the chosen faith of some 5.55 million Americans - seems to be the media itself. Will they similarly inquire as to the religious affiliations of the staff members of other presidential candidates? Somehow, I doubt it.

As for Romney, he looks to be putting together a pretty good team. According to the Salt Lake Trib, Romney's recent hires include Sally Bradshaw, a top political adviser to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Barbara Comstock, a former strategist for the Republican National Committee; Glenn Hubbard, a former chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers; and Greg Mankiw, also a former chairman of the CEA and a Harvard economics professor.

He's also hired ace GOP adman Alex Castellanos, and Romney's fundraising team includes nearly three dozen big-money fund-raisers who are former Pioneers or Rangers for the Bush-Cheney campaigns, meaning they each raised at least $100,000 or $200,000, respectively, for one or both of the Bush-Cheney campaigns.

The Mitt Romney for President 2008 blog has an archive of posts on "the Mormon issue," including the latest on Saturday linking to a USA Today story noting that incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a Mormon, as are 15 members of Congress.

Says USA Today:

Reid is a Democrat from Nevada and Romney is a Republican. Though they have chosen different political stripes, they are bonded in a faith whose leaders encourage members to become active in public life.

Mormons are heeding the call. Typically conservative, they are more politically active than average Americans, according to a recent study. And the 15 Mormons in Congress is a slightly greater representation than the religious group's percentage of the general population.

Quin Monson, a political science professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, says Romney's faith would likely matter to only a minority of voters. "If a Mormon can be elected as governor of Massachusetts and a Mormon can be Senate majority leader, certainly a Mormon can be president," he said.

For a counter point of view, read Amy Sullivan's story from the Sept. 2005 Washington Monthly.

The Romney Institute of Public Management at BYU is named for Gov. Mitt Romney's father, the late George W. Romney. Interesting factoid about George Romney: He was born in Mexico, but that didn't prevent him from running for President in 1968 because he was born to two American parents.

Arizona's Sen. John McCain, a candidate for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, was born in Panama, to American parents.

[Editor's note: I have corrected the name of the church of which Romney is a member, as requested by a commenter.]