On the air, Romney had said he "was effectively pro-choice" when he was running against Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 1994, but changed his position on abortion after dealing as governor with issues he called "life and death," presumably relating to stem-cell research.

"Every decision that I took as governor was in favor of life," he said. "I was wrong in the past."

After the interview ended, Romney told Mickelson, "You don't understand my faith like I do, and so give me the benefit of the doubt, that having been a leader of my church, a bishop and a stake president, I understand my church better than you do."

After another brief skirmish, this one over LDS Church beliefs on the second coming of Christ, Romney said he had never done anything to violate the principles of the church when it comes to abortion.

"The church does not say that a member of our church has to be opposed to allowing choice in society. Therefore, there are Mormon Democrats. There is a Democratic party in Utah, filled with Mormons, and the church doesn't say they're wrong," Romney said.

The former leader of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City also told the talk radio host that he wasn't interested in coming back to Mickelson's show.

"I don't like coming in here, going on the air and having you go after my church," Romney said. "I get a little tired of coming on a show like yours and having it all about Mormonism."

Mickelson told the Deseret Morning News that the video shows the "real Mitt Romney." The talk radio host said he thought he was throwing "softball" questions at the candidate.

"I thought I was was going to be interviewing one guy and ended up interviewing somebody else," Mickelson said.

In a posting on the radio station's Web site, Mickelson calls himself "a pro-life Christian libertarian." He also said Romney "is almost phobic about the public linking him with his Mormonism."

Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and a Romney supporter, said he wasn't surprised at the interest generated by the videotape. "Anytime you involve religion or sex with the front-runner candidate, it gets a lot of attention," Jowers said.

The attention won't hurt the campaign, Jowers said. "I actually think in the long run, this might even help, because it showed a little different side of Romney," Jowers said. "It shows he has the fight when it's called for."

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