As governor of Massachusetts, an office he was elected to after serving as the head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Romney said he "did not confuse the particular teachings of my church with the obligations of the office and of the Constitution." And if elected president, he said, he "will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law."

Kennedy addressed those who were concerned a Catholic would be controlled by the pope by spelling out that he did not speak for his church on public matters nor did his church speak for him — and promising to govern "without regard to outside religious pressure or dictate."

Much of what Romney said, though, was about the need for religion in public life, a very different message than that delivered by Kennedy, who called the separation of church and state absolute.

Saying that has been taken too far in recent years in an effort to, in effect, establish a religion of secularism, Romney said that was wrong and God should be welcomed into public life. "I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'"

Speaking out against secularism "may be the most important in convincing non-Mormons that he is the real deal," Francis Beckwith, a philosophy and church-state studies professor at Baylor University, said after reading the speech.

"Many non-Mormon Christians feel patronized and condescended by secularists who talk eloquently of religious liberty but tell Christians to sit on the back of the secular bus whenever these Christians apply their faith in a public fashion."

Not everyone appreciated the sentiment, however. The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Romney should have recognized there are Americans who are nonbelievers.

"I am an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and I believe in my faith," Lynn said in a statement. "But I believe just as strongly that nonbelievers are good Americans too. I wish Romney had said that."

George H.W. Bush introduced Romney on the library's conference center auditorium stage. The former president, who was accompanied by his wife, Barbara, said other candidates have appeared on the same stage, and he has not endorsed anyone yet. But the Bushes and the Romneys — the candidate, his wife, Ann, and four of their five sons — stood together on stage after the speech.

Described by his advisers as upbeat, Romney did not take questions from reporters. He left College Station immediately after leaving the Bush Library for fund-raisers elsewhere in Texas and in Iowa.

His campaign is already thinking ahead to the general election, with plans to start raising money that can only be spent if Romney becomes the GOP nominee for president. A massive fund-raiser for the general election is being set up for the day after the New Hampshire primary modeled after a similar event last January that raised millions of dollars with the help of Romney's high-powered political and business connections.

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Contributing: Suzanne Struglinski
E-mail: lisa@desnews.com