Mark DeMoss is an extremely influential Evangelical figure. If you don't know his name, get used to it. He's going to be an important player in the 2012 presidential primary season. His PR agency called "The DeMoss Group" is huge and it exclusively serves Christian leaders and organizations by providing communications counsel and public relations support to many of these groups.
DeMoss supported Mitt Romney for President in 2008 and will do so again in 2012. Below is part of a letter he sent to hundreds of Evangelical leaders across the country. In the letter, he lays out the case as to why Evangelicals should vote for Mitt Romney.
Read below. Do you agree with the assesment by Mark DeMoss?
Mitt Romney has always looked like an attractive candidate on paper. That's never been his problem. His main issue is that he needs to be able to better connect with voters and close the deal at campaign events.
A portion of the letter by DeMoss:
Anyone looking for a candidate who shares their values about life, marriage, character and integrity will likely find there will be many, perhaps as many as a dozen candidates, who are acceptable, even attractive to people of faith. Based on early reports, these include:
• Haley Barbour
• Herman Cain
• Mitch Daniels
• Newt Gingrich
• Mike Huckabee
• Bobby Jindal
• Sarah Palin
• Tim Pawlenty
• Mike Pence
• Mitt Romney
• Rick Santorum
• John Thune
Now, I recognize any number of those I’ve listed may decide not to run for president—and others who I’ve not listed may choose to enter the race. But regardless, there will certainly be more than one candidate who would pass the “values test” many conservative and “values voters” use as something of a litmus test for presidential candidates.
Three Critical Questions:
So, if several candidates share my values, that begs three questions:
1. Who is most capable of winning the Republican nomination?
2. Who is most capable of mounting the kind of campaign (raising money, recruiting staff and volunteers, presenting a clear message) necessary to upset a sitting president?
3. Who is most capable of actually being the president of the United States—governing and serving as the CEO of the largest enterprises on the planet?
In other words, as I look at a list of potential candidates I’m asking about each one: Can he/she win the nomination; can he/she win the general election; and can he/she run the country?
While the media and political commentators like to talk about litmus tests evangelicals and social conservatives typically impose on presidential candidates (usually referring to being pro-life), I’d like to propose a second litmus test for serious consideration—after, of course, verifying a candidate’s character, personal morality and values:
• A candidate for president of the United States should be capable of becoming president, and then competent to be the president.
Those who would suggest I am placing values on the back burner will be misreading me and wrong. I am only saying that a candidate’s values alone are not enough to get my vote. For example, my pastor shares my values, but I don’t want him to be my president. (By the way, “energizing a crowd” is also not enough; Justin Bieber can do that—but I don’t want him to be president either.)