Solemn side of Romney
MITT ROMNEY gave the public a rare glimpse of himself practicing his Mormon faith Sunday, as he attended church services near his New Hampshire vacation home.
The Republican challenger has generally shied away from talking about his faith while on the campaign trail, but the window into his spiritual life was made possible after the candidate allowed a press pool to record his comings and goings, as of Aug.6.
Romney and his wife, Ann, were joined at church in Wolfeboro, N.H., by their son Taggart, daughter-in-law Jen and the couple’s six children.
President Obama, who was in New Hampshire campaigning on Saturday, was back in Washington, where the periodic churchgoer and his family attended service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a one-block walk from the White House.
Romney, whose vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee has granted him almost favorite-son status in New Hampshire and made it as wing state this year, sat through a portion of the service with his grandson on his lap. At times,the former Massachusetts governor glanced down at an iPad to read scripture. Ann even broke out in to song, joining an impromptu choir of women at the front of the church in singing the hymn “Because I Have Been Given Much.”
Romney is a devout member of the Mormon church and has been a church leader, but has said little about his faith publicly since kicking off his presidential campaign. Romney’s reticence on his religion is calculated not to provoke a key part of the Republican base, evangelical Christians, who generally hold skeptical attitudes toward Mormonism.