This column from Iowa included an interesting comment on Mitt Romney:
One year from now, the state GOP will hold its all-important straw poll in Ames. It’s a survey that in the past has knocked poor finishers out of the presidential race. Romney is already at work trying to win it.
He has made more than a half-dozen trips to the state and lined up some of the best political talent in the Iowa GOP to work for him. While some experts say Romney’s Mormon faith will hurt him with some voters, it seemed to be helping him here Saturday. Romney organizers said several church members showed up and are deciding on their own to volunteer. “We don’t have to work it,” said a key operative. “It works itself.”
There was also this comment:
Romney wins good reviews for his can-do style and upbeat message. Charisse Schwarm, a longtime GOP activist from Lake Mills, sought me out to note how he reminded her of Ronald Reagan and the effect he had on crowds.
That Reagan standard is a tough one for any Republican to meet. If Romney’s meeting it with people like Schwarm, he’s well on his way toward winning the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses.
I find it fascinating but not suprising that Romney is getting so many volunteers this early in the game. Many of the them are LDS, but many of them are not. It’s worth pointing out that influential conservatives at the National Review are already openly promoting Romney, and have been for almost a year.
(By the way, check out this article at Evangelicals for Mitt which points out that LDS theology should be a non-issue during the campaign. Also, I would like to point out that Jerry Falwell has also recently had kind words for Romney.)
So, you have two front-runners, McCain and Guiliani who are 1)Republican mavericks and 2)disliked by Republican activists. And then you have a bunch of people (Allen, Frist, Huckabee), who are not well-known and do not stand out on a national stage. And then you have Romney with thousands of potential LDS volunteers (myself included) and a lot of very positive early buzz and relatively solid conservative credentials.
I continue to predict very good things for the Romney campaign.