Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is not the first Mormon to run for president. He’s following in the footsteps of his father, George Romney, the late Michigan governor who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1968 but lost to Richard Nixon. When Romney’s father ran, his faith was “mentioned, but it was not a major issue,” said Larry Sabato, a political analyst and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, in a recent interview. But because of the dynamics of the modern presidential campaign and the rise of the Christian right in the Republican Party, Romney’s faith could now pose a problem in ways his father never faced.

Sabato said the political environment at the time largely ensured that George Romney’s faith would not be an issue. “We had just been through the 1960 election, in which the question of creed had been discounted as electoral factor,” he said. “When [John F.] Kennedy was elected, there were thousands of columns written that said, ‘We’ve turned the page.' ” Kennedy, of course, became the first Catholic to become president after winning the 1960 presidential election.

Sabato also said that unlike in today’s campaigns, press coverage was not as personality-driven at the time, and so the elder Romney’s faith simply was not a major focus. “His father was on Nixon’s heels for a portion of 1967,” Sabato said, but “he had to drop out relatively early” after making what was then a major gaffe. During an interview, he said, “Well, you know, when I came back from Vietnam, I had just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get.” (Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy quipped that for Romney, it would only take a light rinse.) The campaign crumbled shortly afterward.

Two other Mormons have run for president, also unsuccessfully. Mo Udall, an Arizona congressman, fell short of Jimmy Carter in the 1976 Democratic nomination, and Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch ran briefly in 2000 against George W. Bush. But their faiths weren’t an issue then, Sabato said. For Udall, “It wouldn’t have been. That was the Democratic Party and we were still in the Kennedy era,” Sabato said. “[Hatch] just wasn’t a major candidate.”

Now Mitt Romney has a serious shot at winning the GOP presidential nomination and “absolutely” the best chance any Mormon has yet had to win the presidency, Sabato said. But the Kennedy era has passed and though Mormonism is one of the country’s fastest growing religions, it is still largely an unknown for many Americans. In a 2006 Gallup poll, two-thirds of respondents said Americans were “not ready” for a Mormon president. “Everyone’s waiting,” Sabato said, for Romney to make a speech similar to Kennedy’s famous Houston speech where he argued that his Catholic faith shouldn’t preclude him from the presidency. “It had a tremendous impact in 1960."

Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said the campaign hasn’t made any plans to make such a speech at this point. Asked whether he thought Americans would vote for a Mormon, he said, “I think people are ultimately going to look at the values of the candidate. People want a person of faith in the oval office and someone who shares their values.”

But that’s assuming he gets to the general election. In order to win his party’s nomination, Romney will have to win over influential social conservatives, many of whom do not consider Mormons to be Christians. In a recent interview, Tamara Scott, a prominent Iowa evangelical, said that Romney’s faith was relevant to the campaign, though she gave a non-answer as to whether she thought Mormons were Christians:

“Is it fair to bring up someone’s faith? Absolutely,” she said by phone. … Asked if she thought Mormons were Christians, Scott demurred. “Whether someone is a Christian is not up to me,” but to God, she said; she then added, “I think you have to ask the Mormons whether they think they’re Christians.”

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was more to the point, writing a recent piece called “Mormonism is not Christianity.”

And at the grassroots, Anne Darby of Boone County, Iowa recently told the BBC that she would not vote for Romney because of his faith. "We are a Christian nation, and we should have a Christian president," she said.

Albrecht said Romney’s faith hasn’t been an obstacle to courting social conservatives. “People are responding positively to Gov. Romney and his message,” he said. “Once people get to know the governor and they share his views and his values, they’re inclined to support him.” He added that the campaign was recruiting “voters of all faiths.”

Romney’s faith does come with a political upside. Many Mormons are backing—and giving generously—to his campaign. “If you look at Romney’s impressive fund raising, you’ll find an enormous amount of Mormon backers,” Sabato said. “He’s in contention in this race in good part because of that money that’s been raised.”

Mormons do not represent a large portion of the Iowa population, though their history is marked indelibly here. Iowa Independent talked to several Mormons in Iowa, and while they all thought Romney’s candidacy would increase acceptance of their faith, not all planned to support him for president. All said they considered themselves Christians.

Carol Memmott, a Mormon from Council Bluffs, said she planned to support Romney. “He would make an excellent president,” she said. “He knows how to get things done.” She said a lot of people have “misconceived ideas” about Mormons and hoped that Romney’s candidacy would encourage more people to learn about Mormons. She emphasized that the name of her church was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. “We definitely worship Jesus Christ, so we are definitely Christians. Some people think that because there are not crosses in our church… We choose to celebrate Christ’s life more than his death.”

Kelly Jay Hardman of Davenport said he was leaning toward supporting Romney. “I think he’s doing a good job representing himself,” Hardman said. “I’ve liked what he’s done and accomplished in Massachusetts and the Olympics.” Hardman said the increased exposure to his Mormon faith is “absolutely” a good thing. “There will be people who want to be negative, but that’s part of politics.” … [and] we certainly believe in Christ, in the New Testament.”

And Katie Willenborg, a junior at Iowa State University and president of the university’s Latter Day Saints Student Association, said she thought Rom
ney’s candidacy was good for her faith but did not count herself a supporter. “I think it has been good for our religion in a way because it has put it more in the public view and brought out questions about our religion,” she said. “He seems like an OK guy. In my opinion he doesn’t seem to be very ‘this is exactly what I believe.’ It kind of seems that he wants to please everybody.” A registered Republican, she is undecided at this point in the race. Willenborg echoed others in her defense of her faith. “The real name of our church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so yes we are Christians,” she said.

Whether that is enough to convince social conservatives to support Romney remains to be seen. Romney has staked much of his campaign on Iowa, and social conservatives make up almost 40 percent of Iowa caucus-goers, according to Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance. Romney’s obstacles are unlike those confronted by his father and other Mormon presidential candidates. He may be the closest a Mormon has come to being president, but the White House is still a long way off.