PEJ Talk Show Index: December 2 - 7, 2007: Talk Hosts React to Romney
According to MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews, Mitt Romney's Dec. 6 speech trying to reassure voters about his Mormon religion represented nothing less that “the biggest political risk of his career.”
With polls showing Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee—who touts himself as a “Christian leader”—vaulting past Romney in Iowa, the former Massachusetts Governor delivered a speech about faith and politics that invited comparisons to John F. Kennedy's 1960 address dealing with his Roman Catholic faith.
Kennedy's address, now widely regarded as a political triumph, was delivered in an era when most Americans got their news and commentary once a day from the daily paper or the nightly network newscast. Romney's speech was delivered in an era of instantaneous, ubiquitous punditry, and the reviews rolled in fast and furious.
Read the full article Talk Hosts React to Romney on Religion on the Project for Excellence in Journalism Web site.
