The speech drew both news coverage and the attention of columnists and editorials. Overall, we identified 22 pieces about the speech between the evening newscasts of December 6th and the morning papers of December 7th. The Washington Post led the way with seven pieces total. There were three news stories as well as opinion pieces from E.J. Dionne, Charles Krauthamer, Michael Gerson and a Post editorial to cap it off. The Wall Street Journal ran four pieces including one Journal editorial. The New York Times printed one news story, a column by David Brooks and an unsigned editorial. USA Today ran one news item on the speech.

Television coverage was heaviest on NBC Nightly News and Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume with two stories apiece. ABC, World News, CBS Evening News, and CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight aired one story each. CNN took perhaps the most unusual approach to covering the speech, dispensing with the normal recap of what the Governor said. Instead guest anchor Christine Romans sat down for a roundtable discussion with Barry Lynd executive director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Alan Wolfe director of the Bossy Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College.

Rating the Speech

While there was wide agreement on the importance of the speech for the Romney campaign, there was much less agreement on how well the speech went. Across all the stories and opinion pieces we coded, praise for the speech slightly edged out criticism (52 vs. 48 percent). Of course such broad measures mask a great deal of variations between outlets and between news and opinion pieces.

The best way to compare coverage is to look at how news reports at the various outlets reviewed the speech. News accounts on ABC and Fox News were unanimous in airing praise for the speech, of course on ABC that meant unanimity among only two opinions.

Two out of the three opinions found in the single USA Today story praised the speech. In Post news coverage, three out of the five opinions were favorable on the speech. On CBS, the two opinions aired split evenly. Of the five opinions on NBC, 40 percent praised the speech. Two out of the five opinions in Journal coverage were positive. In Times coverage, one of three opinions was positive. CNN was the least positive with only 29 percent of opinions giving the speech a thumbs up.

Opinion pieces were only found in the newspapers and reflect a greater range of views. The Times (in an editorial and a David Brooks column) offered the most negative views with only 18 percent of opinions praising the speech.

At the Post, three out of five opinions (62 percent) were favorable. The Post printed an unsigned editorial, plus three signed columns to offer the most opinion coverage of the speech. The Journal ran an unsigned editorial and a column that explored the Mormon faith and community. The result was that opinion pieces in the Journal had nothing but praise for the speech. USA Today offered no opinion pieces.

Sample Opinions

Praise

• Michael Gerson, columnist: Romney wisely did not delve into the theological details of his own Mormon faith, any more than Kennedy explained the Immaculate Conception. That is not the job of a politician and, in Romney's case, would have been a tricky task. (Washington Post p. A39 12/7/07)
• "His delivery was passionate and his message was inspirational," Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said in a statement. "Whether it will answer all the questions and concerns of Evangelical Christian voters is yet to be determined, but the governor is to be commended for articulating the importance of our religious heritage as it relates to today." (Washington Post p. A1, 12/7/07)
• Rob Schenck, president of the conservative National Clergy Council, said it was "courageous" and "should go a long way to relieve worries" about Romney's faith. (USA Today p. A1 12/7/07)
• I thought he did well. I thought he accomplished what he needed to accomplish, which was first of all making it clear that there is no religious test to serve in public office and certainly not president of the United States. (Ralph Reed, Republican strategist, Fox News 12/6/07)

Criticism

• Bud Montang Catholic voter: "If his faith is truly in the fiber of his being, every decision he makes is affected by it," . . . "You can't say your faith isn't going to affect your decisions. It is who you are completely." . . . "You can't have it separate and together," she said. "It's one or the other." (Washington Post p.A5 12/7/07)
• Where Mr. Romney most fell short, though, was in his failure to recognize that America is composed of citizens not only of different faiths but of no faith at all and that the genius of America is to treat them all with equal dignity. (Washington Post editorial p. A38 12/7/07)
• The speech didn't win the vote of Republican Steve Carlson, a Pentecostal Christian and a consultant for the nonprofit voter-education organization Iowa Christian Alliance. "If my choice is between Mike Huckabee, who I know is saved, and Gov. Romney, who as a Mormon...I'm going to pick Mike Huckabee," Mr. Carlson said. (Wall Street Journal p. A6, 12/7/07)
• "I don't want a president who believes something so off-base," he said. The fact that Mr. Romney doesn't want to discuss his faith "makes it worse," said Mr. Bernie Hayes, who supports Mr. Huckabee. (Wall Street Journal p. A6,12/7/07)
• Sally Quinn of The Washington Post: What he talked about was a complete repudiation of any notion of separation of church and state because he basically eliminated anyone who wasn't a Christian or a God-fearing person. (ABC News 12/6/07)
• Barry Lynn, Americans United For Separation of Church & State: And the other interesting thing, and I think he was wise in a sense to not talk about all of the tenants of Mormonism, on the other hand he did say he believes in Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God. He's Savior of man kind. He certainly got very thiological within the same minute he was saying he wasn't going to explain his religion. I think a lot of people are frankly still confused about what he believes about religion. (CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight, 12/6/07)
• Mr. Romney was not there to defend freedom of religion, or to champion the indisputable notion that belief in God and religious observance are longstanding parts of American life. He was trying to persuade Christian fundamentalists in the Republican Party, who do want to impose their faith on the Oval Office, that he is sufficiently Christian for them to support his bid for the Republican nomination. No matter how dignified he looked, and how many times he quoted the founding fathers, he could not disguise that sad fact. (New York Times editorial p. 30 12/7/07)

The Motivations for the Speech

Governor Romney may have felt he was delivering a speech on religion in America, but for the media it was all about the underlying strategy. Almost three out of four (73%) of stories at least mentioned the strategic importance of the speech. All of the television stories, save one piece on Fox News, mentioned the strategic importance of the speech. NBC, took the strategic line of coverage the furthest with Tim Russert speculating on the necessity of a second Romney speech on religion later in the campaign:

• I think Governor Romney's phrase today, "freedom requires religion," is probably going to mean if he is the Republican nominee, another speech explaining what he means by that. Can you be free and still be nonreligious or a nonbeliever. So while today may have dealt with the immediate situation in Iowa, I do think that this issue will have to be addressed again. (NBC 12/6/07)

The other candidate in these strategic calculations was Mike Huckabee whose surge in Iowa and elsewhere, was frequently seen as the impetus behind the timing of Governor Romney's speech. Of the 22 news and opinion pieces we coded on Governor Romney's speech, 36 percent mentioned Governor Huckabee's role in raising religion on the campaign trail. A Washington Post editorial and a column by Charles Krauthamer pushed the point even further, faulting Governor Huckabee for playing the religion card. As the Post editorial put it:

• It's regrettable, too, that the skepticism and even hostility some voters feel toward Mormonism has been played upon by the man who has emerged as his chief rival in Iowa, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is running commercials that proclaim him to be a "Christian leader." That is why Mr. Romney felt the need to detail his creed . . . (12/7/07)

In addition to the strategic importance of the speech, over one quarter (27%) of coverage mentioned the lingering problem that Governor Romney has with changing positions on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. When these flip-flops were mentioned it was as a counterpoint to the successful delivery of the speech. For instance, Michael Gerson observed in his column:

• These arguments will go only so far for Romney. His biggest problem is not his religious beliefs but persistent questions about his core political beliefs, provoked by shifting views on abortion, gun rights and immigration. Whatever Romney's religious faith, his greatest need is to demonstrate a fighting faith. (Washington Post 12/7/07)