Reporting: Romney campaign again puts Mormon faith in spotlight

Cross-posted from msnbc.com, where it originally appeared. 

Infobox: Mormons and evangelicals

By Alex Johnson
msnbc.com

Four years ago, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney took time from his Republican presidential campaign to talk at length about the role of religion in America and in his life.

It is entirely appropriate to ask “questions about an aspiring candidate’s religion,” Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a sober, here’s-what-I-believe address in College Station, Texas, in December 2007.

This time around, the same questions are being asked: Are Mormons really Christians? Should evangelical Christians refuse to even consider voting for them?

But this time, Romney’s response is very different.