Their time together was brief, to be sure. Craig Bergman, the man that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had picked to be his political director in Iowa, stepped down on Tuesday after reports surfaced that he had called Mormonism a "cult." According to Yahoo News' The Ticket, Bergman was speaking in front of a focus group conducted by McClatchy Newspapers and the Iowa Republican Party.
The focus group's discussion was centered around the role of religion in voters' decision-making process regarding each of the Republican presidential candidates. Reportedly, the focus group had found that the fact that fellow candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon is likely to cost him votes in Iowa.
Religion in general has started to move more to the forefront in discussions leading up to the Iowa Caucus in recent weeks, as Romney has appeared to move past his earlier resistance to speaking about his faith. According to The Ticket, Gingrich himself just signed his fourth no-adultery pledge in front of the Iowa-based group The Family Leader on Monday, which entailed his promise to stay faithful to his current wife, Callista, as well as to protect marriage as an institution only between a man and a woman and help keep federal dollars from being used for abortions.
Newt Gingrich
Despite the Des Moines Register's reports of a surge of support among religious conservatives for Bachmann, Gingrich still retains the majority of the vote here. While his messy personal life, including multiple extramarital affairs and divorces, remains a concern to some evangelicals, his plea for forgiveness during his campaign has won over some of the more reluctant voters, who have said in interviews with The Daily Beast and other media outlets that they believe that it's now time to forgive him for his past transgressions.
Mitt Romney
Up until recently, Romney rarely discussed his faith. But concern from Iowa conservatives in focus groups, such as the one Bergman attended this week, that being a Mormon will cost him votes appears to have altered his thinking. At a Republican debate Saturday night, the New York Times reported that Romney openly discussed his time as a missionary and how it affected his view of people's struggles. He appears to be taking a calculated risk in juxtaposing his own history of service and marital fidelity against Gingrich's.
Ron Paul
Paul appears to be making a strong last-minute stand in Iowa, with a survey conducted by the Public Policy Polling group from December 11 to 13 placing him in a close second to Gingrich. The problem is, he's still unlikely to win the nomination, according to the Associated Press. What he may do, however, is help get some Iowa voters to select Romney over Gingrich. Paul in particular draws younger voters, who are less likely to view religion as a hindrance. His support base, should he lose the nomination, could conceivably then swing to Romney.
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