IT WAS one of those awkward moments that is almost embarrassing to witness. In front of a watchful crowd of Republican voters, Mitt Romney recited two lines from
America the Beautiful to underscore a political point.
Then, pausing for a moment, he asked: “Can you sing that song? I love that song,” and launched into a rendition of it, clearly hoping his audience would join in.
One verse and a chorus later, having missed the highest notes by a wide margin, he brought his solo to an end by applauding himself. His audience finally joined in, clapping in apparent relief.
The point he had been trying to make, however, was clear: he was an ordinary, patriotic American, hoping to challenge President Barack Obama for the White House in November. Voters need not worry about his wealth, his record as a private equity entrepreneur or his Mormon religion.
Last week, voters in Florida rewarded him with a sweeping victory in their state’s primary election, establishing Mr Romney as front-runner in the Republican race over his near- est rival, Newt Gingrich, and the two other candidates.
But they also propelled him on to the next contest — a rendezvous with a part of America’s West where it would be impossible to ignore the Mor- mon connection: Nevada. The state is home to 175,000 Mormons, and an expected one in four of the Republicans choosing between rival candidates in caucus meetings last night was expected to be Mr Rom- ney’s co-religionists.
It could have been another awkward moment for the former Massachusetts governor, a former missionary and lay bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His emergence as the leading Republican candidate has fuelled a national debate about whether the US is ready for a Mormon in the White House, given that the faith is still viewed by many evangeli- cals as a cult. Coverage often focuses on esoteric details, such as the special under-garments worn by the faithful and baptisms of the dead, a practice Mr Romney would have overseen.
Some Mormons wish that Mr Romney would take advantage of his profile to explain Mormon tenets and challenge what church elders term “perception problems”.
But, although he invokes his faith in general terms, aides say he has no plans to deliver a speech going into his religious beliefs in detail — aware that this would excite unwanted attention.
This has disappointed some followers of the church, driving a number of Mormons in Nevada to support another Republican candidate. They have complained that Mr Romney’s Mormonism is not as rigorous as it could be.
David Isbell, a conservative activist and television producer who works just off Las Vegas’s Strip, the casino heartland of Sin City, planned to support not Mr Romney but Ron Paul, a Baptist Texan congressman who is campaigning on a libertarian anti-government, anti-war message.
Mormons believe the US constitution was inspired by God, and Mr Isbell argues that Mr Romney’s support for the war in Iraq, sabre-rattling over Iran and backing for the $700billion bank bail-out all contradict it — and hence Mormon teachings.
“As Mormons, we believe that the Constitution was a divinely-inspired document that defines our liberties,” he said. “Only Ron Paul adheres to that document. Mitt Romney makes statements to fire up the base and appeal to the neocons that are not in line with the spirit of our faith and the US constitution.”
The candidate’s tough stance on immigration has also put him at odds both with church policy and with his cousins who live in a Mormon enclave in Mexico. The church, which has a growing Hispanic membership, has pushed for guest worker permits so that illegal immigrants with jobs can remain in the US — a position supported by Mr Romney’s Mexican-american relatives who have criticised his hard line.
Long before it became synonymous with sybaritic excess, Las Vegas was founded by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and the towers of today’s white Mormon temple loom over the eastern fringes where city merges with desert.
Most Mormons still planned to back Mr Romney last night: sweatshirts for Brigham Young University, the church’s academic base in Salt Lake City, were plentiful among those at Romney rallies and at one gathering, a young boy carried a placard declaring: “Romney!! Mormons Rock!!”
Joe Wyson, who owns a gun store and firing range, said: “Romney is a man of integrity, faith and character, but he is also a successful businessman who knows what it takes to turn this country around.”
The Mormon vote made it all but impossible for Mr Gingrich, the only serious rival for the nomination, to compete with Mr Romney in the state. “Nevada’s tricky because of the Mormon influence,” Mr Gingrich acknowledged.
But for all the pasting the former House Speaker took in Florida, he left the state insisting he would fight on — with the likely support of conservative Republicans, who remain unpersuaded by Mr Romney. They were encouraged by Mr Romney’s ability to fall into traps of his own making, such as last week’s comment in a television interview that he was “not concerned about the very poor”.
Mr Gingrich’s supporters said it cost the Romney campaign $16million for the 3,000-plus attack advertisements that helped to defeat him in Florida — the largest state to vote so far — and that this effort was more than doubled by outside groups, which raised huge sums of money.
Yet Republican voters seemed uninspired by the candidates, with turnout among them lower than 2008. Mr Gingrich’s campaign was, meanwhile, kept financially afloat by $10million donated by Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino owner.
Over the next weeks, though, the Republican race is shifting West, with votes to come in Arizona and Colorado, which both have sizeable Mormon populations, and in Mr Romney’s home state of Michigan.
For now, at least, the geography of the race may be in the frontrunner’s favour.
Mr Romney’s campaign has been plagued by speculation that his faith is a hindrance. But by the end of February, it could have pushed him towards a historic first Mormon presidential candidacy.