Race, religion to the fore in US Republican race focus 10/12/2011

Race, religion to the fore in US Republican race

focus

10/12/2011
WASHINGTON — Republican hopefuls insist the 2012 White House race will hinge on the economy, but it is the conservative hot-button issues of race and religion that currently dominate the campaign.

Frontrunner Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, debated at length when he ran for president in 2008, was decried as a “cult” by an evangelical supporter of his main challenger, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Race relations ensnared Perry after the Washington Post pointed out that his family’s rented hunting lodge had, for many years, the abhorrent name “Niggerhead” emblazoned on a large rock at its entrance.

Social issues are massively important in US elections, especially in the Republican primaries. Americans have always had a Christian president, and until Barack Obama, they’ve always been white..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111012com5.html