Romney candidacy mixed bag for LDS

John Dehlin, 37, a Mormon blogger here who works from home for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., said, "I don't see him as any worse than any other politician out there, but I wanted my guy, who represents my church, to be different."

"I had the hope that Romney would be steadfast, be upfront and have integrity and consistency, but I've been disillusioned," Dehlin said. "It makes me a lot less proud than I otherwise would have been."

Such critical views, however, were overshadowed in interviews here and in Salt Lake City by enthusiasm for Romney. The only other candidate who seemed to generate such interest here was Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who drew praise for his integrity and fresh approach.

In a poll of Mormons in Utah taken in February by Dan E. Jones, a Utah pollster, 62 percent said they would vote for Romney. Mormons make up about two-thirds of voters in Utah, and 59 percent of them are Republicans.

The church itself has been careful to avoid doing anything that could be interpreted as an endorsement of Romney. In contrast to some denominations where political endorsements are a staple of sermons, the LDS Church avoids preaching politics from the pulpit and routinely reminds local leaders of this before elections.

"No one knows whether having a Mormon president would be good or bad for the church," said Michael Otterson, the church's media relations director. "On the plus side, we would become better known and possibly better understood. On the negative side, some people could confuse both domestic and foreign policy positions as having something to do with the church" — clearly a risk for an international church with 13 million members, more than 7 million of them outside the United States.

Richard Lyman Bushman, a Mormon scholar and professor emeritus of history at Columbia University, said that while "the dominant portion of the church will support" Romney, he was hearing concerns from some fellow Mormons about the potential effect of a Mormon president.

"He's not going to be able to please people all the time, and if he's maligned in the press, his Mormonism will be brought up over and over," Bushman said. "I've heard Mormons say, 'I just wish he'd forget it, and go back to making money with Bain,'" the investment firm Bain Capital where Romney made his fortune.

Many Mormons said in interviews that they like Romney not because he is a member of their church, but because he proved his managerial abilities by rescuing the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Gary and Sheryl Anderson here said they gave the maximum $2,300 donation to Romney's campaign. Anderson, a lawyer, said: "I think he has a particular talent for getting good solid data and effectively being able to turn things around. The country needs some of that."