Campaign on hold briefly

After a day of campaigning in California and Colorado, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrived in Salt Lake City on Friday evening to attend today's funeral for the late LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had no fundraisers or other campaign activities scheduled during the less than 18 hours he'll spend in Utah before heading to Minnesota for an evening rally.

Minnesota is one of more than 20 states — including Utah — with presidential primaries and caucuses coming up on so-called Super-Duper Tuesday. Utah, though, may be the only state where Romney can expect to win without campaigning.

Polls have shown Utahns overwhelmingly favor Romney, a Boston businessman who served as governor of Massachusetts, to be the nation's next president. Not only is Romney Mormon, like the majority of Utahns, he is also credited with turning around the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Before returning to Boston on Election Day for what his campaign is calling a victory party, Romney will also make campaign stops in Chicago and Nashville on Sunday, Atlanta on Monday, and West Virginia on Tuesday morning. His wife and five sons are also campaigning for him in several smaller states like Montana and Alaska.

Romney will attend this morning's funeral services with his wife, Ann, two of his five sons, Josh and Matt, and Spencer Zwick, his national finance director. Zwick, a native of Utah, was a top aide to Romney during the Olympics and in Massachusetts. His father, Craig Zwick, is a member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy.

President Hinckley, Romney told reporters in Denver, was "gracious and generous in his support" of the Olympics as well as Romney's own political ambitions. Romney joked that the LDS leader told him "with a twinkle in his eye ... if you decide to run and you win, it'll be a great experience. If you run and lose, it'll also be a great experience."

"I got the chance to see President Hinckley from afar and respected him as a man of great character, courage and humility, and the common touch," Romney said. "He's a man I respect a great deal, and I want to pay my respects to his family and acknowledge the importance of his life in my own life."