Call it Mormon War III.
Jon Huntsman's announcement that he will, if he runs for the GOP presidential nomination, locate his campaign headquarters in Orlando is a not-so-veiled shot at fellow Mormon Mitt Romney.
It's no geopolitical coincidence that Huntsman -- a former Utah governor and, most recently, U.S. ambassador to China -- zeroed in on Florida. Positioned to be the first megastate to hold a 2012 presidential primary, Florida is make-or-break territory for Romney.
Romney was poised for victory here in 2008. Then, at the eleventh hour, Gov. Charlie Crist, angling for vice presidential consideration, endorsed John McCain, who won the primary and rolled on to the GOP nomination.
With Crist, McCain and his other nemesis, Mike Huckabee, out of the picture, Romney is hoping for a different result. But Huntsman's presence would pose a serious threat to the party's perceived front-runner.
Though Huntsman is not a conventional Mormon -- he's vague on his current membership status -- his family has long and deep ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Married to the former Mary Kaye Cooper, who grew up in Florida, the couple has the quintessentially large Utah family of seven children (the last two adopted from China).
Whatever his "faith" may be today, Huntsman, 51, and Romney, 64, have much in common. Both served Mormon missions as young men (Huntsman in Taiwan; Romney in France). Both have famous fathers (the senior Huntsman is a leading industrialist and philanthropist; the late George Romney was governor of Michigan, chairman of American Motors and a onetime GOP presidential hopeful himself). Both are billionaires (Huntsman as the heir of Huntsman Industries; Romney earning his fortune in the world of high finance and investment).
If their paths cross in Florida, it will be a showdown that transcends church and state. Forget the Mormon Wars of Missouri and Utah, where the LDS Church fought marauding Southerners and federal authority; this battle is internal and personal.
Neither man has directly attacked the other (yet), but plenty of surrogates are taking potshots. And there's plenty of ammunition to fire from the right.
Huntsman's detractors note that he owes his ambassadorial appointment to President Barack Obama. Though credited with "saving" the struggling 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Romney has been bludgeoned for the health-care program he instituted while governor of Massachusetts. Critics derisively call Romneycare the forerunner of Obamacare.
Religion isn't supposed to play a role in politics, but it clearly does when Mormons are in the mix. In 2008, Romney was dogged by questions about his faith, particularly by Huckabee, a fundamentalist Christian who once asked Romney if he believed Satan was Jesus' brother. (Mormon doctrine says yes, but Romney hedged.)
Florida's Mormon population is relatively sparse -- estimated at about 100,000 -- yet LDS voters are almost universally Republican, so their votes are a factor in any GOP contest.
Huntsman's presence in Florida is a particular challenge for Romney, says Kevin Wagner, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University.
"Huntsman is dangerous because he's competing for the same base," Wagner said.
"Last time, Romney courted the ultra-conservatives. This time, he's focusing more on money, not trying to 'out-right' everyone. Huntsman can appeal to groups outside conservatives, and Florida has that broader Republican electorate."
Both men have the ability to raise copious campaign cash through their well-honed personal and corporate connections. Romney says he is on track to collect a record $1 billion -- matching Obama's target.
For Huntsman to headquarter his campaign in Orlando would be symbolic in ecclesiastical terms. Orlando is the only city in the state with a Mormon Temple, an exclusive edifice where qualified tithes-paying church members perform baptisms for the dead and other holy rituals.
Even with their heavy Republican bent, and contrary to popular belief, Mormons are not all of one mind politically. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is a leading Democrat on the national scene, and it is widely believed that a few Democrats are sprinkled among the church's Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
Whereas today's church stands officially against gay (and plural) marriage, it has sent out homosexual missionaries under a sort of don't-ask-don't-tell policy. Like the Catholic Church, the LDS church also has assumed a "liberal" position on open borders and immigration.
Huntsman appears to fit well in the more heterodox church climate, saying recently, "I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides."
Romney maintains a more conventional church-going persona. And while that may raise the hackles of voters who distrust the Mormon church and its theology, there may be some political advantages to staying in the fold.
Speaking of Huntsman, David Woodard, a political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, a key primary state that votes just ahead of Florida, told the Deseret News:
"The only thing worse than being a Mormon is being a nothing. That might work in California, but it's not going to work very well in South Carolina. They're suspicious of people who are not believers."
Time will tell how it plays out in Florida.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
