SALT LAKE CITY -- The 2008 race for the White House is under way and the question already is in debate: Can a Mormon be elected president of the United States? In a country where the majority of voters tell pollsters that a president should have strong religious beliefs, potential GOP candidate Mitt Romney may soon find out whether that equally applies to a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Laying the groundwork for a campaign expected to be announced early next year and considered in the top tier of Republican hopefuls, the departing Massachusetts governor boasts an extensive business background, rescued the deficit-ridden 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and, at 59, cuts a distinguished figure. But Romney faces a challenge encountered by few prior candidates: convincing evangelical Christians, a key GOP bloc, that Mormons are Christians, not heretics....
