In a recent article in the online magazine Slate, Jacob Weisberg says just that about Romney's religion. "I wouldn't vote for someone who truly believed in the founding whoppers of Mormonism," Weisberg writes, calling church founder Joseph Smith "an obvious con man."

And even the much more conservative Time magazine in November questioned, "Can a Mormon be president?" and attempted to answer, "Why Mitt Romney will have to explain a faith that remains mysterious to many."

"People are unfamiliar with it," said Craig R. Smith, a communications studies professor at California State University, Long Beach. Smith, who was a speechwriter for former Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, said much of what people think they know about LDS Church members is wrong.

"It gets defined in film, in fiction and in other places in ways that are not entirely accurate. That needs to be cleared up," he said. For example, he said, polygamy is still associated with the LDS Church even though the practice was banned more than a century ago.

"He's going to have to make the kind of speech that John Kennedy did to explain where he's coming from," Smith said of Romney. "It would have to tell about his faith, but he would also have to demonstrate a separation from the leaders of his faith."

Romney's religion isn't all that's attracting attention. It's a sure sign that Romney's presidential aspirations are being taken seriously when pundits start talking about the stands he's taken over the years on such controversial issues as gay rights and abortion.

But while that's the latest focus in coverage of a Romney run for the White House, the dominant issue continues to be his faith. His ability to appeal to evangelical Christians is continually being questioned.

Poll after poll suggest a sizable number of voters wouldn't vote for an LDS presidential candidate. For example, a Rasmussen Reports survey in November found that 43 percent of American voters say they would never even consider voting for an LDS candidate.

"Evangelicals regard Mormonism as some kind of a cult," said Ted Jelen, a professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has written extensively about the role of religion in American politics.

Jelen said the biggest threat to a Romney campaign could come from anti-LDS advertising by outside groups, similar to the "Swift Boat" television commercials in 2004 that questioned Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry's war record.

"That ad is coming. There's just no way around it. It's just too good a piece of ammunition for his opponents to ignore," Jelen said, suggesting such an attack ad might focus on polygamy.