From Deseret News archives:
Romney's off-air defense of faith gets lots of Internet attention
The video features the sometimes-heated exchange that occurred off the air between Romney and host Jan Mickelson at WHO 1040 and had been viewed more than 136,000 times as of Monday on YouTube.
The interview has also been the subject of several blogs and other columns, with The Politico's Jonathan Martin calling the video "Mitt Unplugged," because "a visibly annoyed Romney spoke in much greater detail about his church's doctrines than he is comfortable doing in public."
Taped during the Aug. 2 in-studio interview, the video was made by the radio station without Romney's knowledge, said Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for his campaign. But, she said, "it's the media that cares more about the religious question," not voters.
Mickelson told the Deseret Morning News that the station's usual practice is to videotape all interviews with presidential candidates, and the camera doesn't stop rolling for breaks, although sometimes the videos are edited before being posted online.
This one apparently wasn't. It shows that during a commercial break, Mickelson told Romney, "You're making a big mistake when you distance yourself from your religion" to attract conservative voters, some of whom don't consider Mormons to be Christians.
Mickelson and Romney had gone back and forth on the air about Romney's former pro-choice position and how that squared with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' stance that is generally against abortion, with some exceptions.
"I'm proud of my faith," Romney responded to Mickelson's suggestion. "There is nothing I distance myself from. There are Mormons in the leadership of my church who are pro-choice, and they do not violate that."
The former Massachusetts governor went on to tell Mickelson there is a difference between religious prohibitions and law. Romney used having sex outside of marriage and drinking alcohol as examples. Neither is allowed in the LDS Church.
"Should I say that as governor of Massachusetts, we are stopping alcohol sales? ... No," Romney said, adding that Mormons say, "With the same vehemence that we have our own beliefs, we also vehemently believe other people should be able to make their own choices."
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."
