Mitt picked up "Religious Right Republican Handbook 101" and threw a bunch of paragraphs into a speech.

War on religion? There's no war against religion. There are, however, wars between the religions of this country -- as shown by Mitt's failure to appeal to the evangelicals. NOW Mitt panders to that very group.

Democrats want to "declare defeat"? THAT'S the kind of immature comment that caused his campaign to fail. Insulting 50% of the voters ain't gonna work, Mitt.

PREDICTION: Mitt will end up as McCain's VP.

Think about it. McCain's already said he's only going to serve one term, he needs the right wing, Mitt's leaning so hard he's falling over - and that would position Mitt nicely for 2012.

If Mitt is "pandering to the religious right" why are so many Mormons supportive of his positions? It's because those are positions they share as well. Thus, they arise naturally and organically from Romney's own heritage and beliefs as a Mormon! I think it may have been out of a concern to not overemphasize his Mormonness to people who have a knee jerk negative reaction to Mormons, but he might have persuaded more people that his political positions grow from the root convictions of his religion if he had talked more directly about what Mormons are taught on marriage and the family. He tried pointing to his own family life as an example of what he believes, but that was not enough for many people, who wanted him to articulate his core beliefs and commitments. Perhaps if he did it over again, he could be more direct about how his Mormon beliefs (but not church leaders) direct his political convictions. A Mormon with McCain's combative personality might have done so.
But a Romney VP would help secure the West, and be enough to secure the South without Huckabee. Without Romney in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada and Montana, McCain could lose.