Mitt Romney says he won’t draw focus to his Mormon faith

In an interview segment scheduled to air Thursday on
Fox News, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney
revealed that he currently harbors no plans to speak at
length about his Mormon faith.

“The presumptive GOP nominee (was) asked if he will draw
any focus to his Mormon faith during the last months of
the campaign,”
ABC News political blogger Shushannah
Walshe reported. “Romney gave a speech during the 2008
race at the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A & M
University on his faith. In the interview he answered, ‘I
don’t know that I would add to that or change it in
some way,’ referring to the speech.

“’I give major speeches on topics of significance
and have about once a week or once every two weeks for the
last couple of months, and will continue doing so as
regards religion in America,’ Romney said, making it seem
less than likely he will lay out his beliefs this cycle as
he did in what came to be known as his ‘Mormon speech’
during the 2008 primary.”

The comments come from an extended interview that Fox
News’ Bill Hemmer conducted with Mitt and Ann Romney on
Tuesday in California. The first portion of that
interview aired Wednesday as a five-minute segment,
during which Romney evoked John F. Kennedy and Franklin
Delano Roosevelt in brushing aside the suggestion that
voters may ultimately reject him because of his wealth.

Politico’s Tim Mak summarized the
exchange: “Mitt Romney … dismissed the notion
that voters may see him as just a ‘successful rich guy,’
pointing out previous wealthy presidents such as Franklin
Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. … ‘This is not a
nation that divides people based on whether they’ve
been successful or not,’ Romney said. ‘We don’t say,
“Oh, boy, this person won the lottery and therefore they
can’t understand me.” We instead look at people and
celebrate their success and their achievements, and we
look for people who have the skills we think will make our
lives better.’”