I disagree with McCain on several issues and with Huckabee on a whole lot more. Yet I have little doubt that they actually believe what they’re telling me. That was never the case with Romney.

Tis a shame. Given that McCain and Huckabee, both, have adjusted their positions, eg flip-flopped, it is they who I never trusted and still don't. Of course, I'm much more trusting of Mormon morality than I am of quasi-Christian (McCain) or evangelical Christian (Huckabee). And I say that as an atheist.

I think most telling were polls conducted a while ago asking what group (identity politics) voters would most likely vote, or not vote for. IIRC, Mormons topped out on the negative with something like 40% saying there was no way. More than anything, I think unstated, perhaps even unconscious, religious bigotry doomed Romney's run.

“I think there’s a lesson: No Mormon should ever consider running for president in the Republican Party,” said Alan Wolfe, an expert in religion and politics at Boston College. “The evidence from the South speaks volumes.”

A Pew Research Center poll this week found Huckabee’s supporters divided in their view of Romney, with 41 percent holding an unfavorable view.

Despite the fact that perennially-wrong dipsticks like Hugh Hewett insisted repeatedly that the only issues about Mittster's religion would come from the left...

However, the very next statement in that article raises another issue:

“The guy ran as a conservative in a time of economic difficulty,” Wolfe said. “It’s really difficult to explain why he came in third in so many Southern states without making reference to his religion.”

A lot of GOP bigwigs are so completely insulated from actual citizens that they honestly don't think the economy is that big a deal. Outside of RP, I don't think any of the GOP contenders ever talked it up until after they'd already gone through all their 9-11, immigration, and left-bashing talking points. And small wonder, since to draw attention to the fact that the rich are the only ones not living 1 or 2 paychecks from disaster can only highlight that the only blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of Bush's horrific economic policies. And criticising Bush during the Primaries just ain't gonna work.