Nevertheless, the symbolism works in this case because Romney walks the talk. He is the husband of one wife and a living example of family values. How important is this? If all politics is local, nothing is more local than family, particularly for Christian conservatives. Social conservatives define themselves politically out of the central reality of their lives--their families. Romney has an awful lot of credibility to "get real" with social conservatives.

His emphasis on innovation and transformation is similarly backed up with both family and personal history. No one can argue with his resume and in the Republican primary that is going to be perhaps less of an advantage than a bulwark against the similarly impressive resumes of Giuliani and McCain.

Its very early in the campaign, and Romney is third in the polls, but his fundamentals are very strong. His rivals and critics are mostly hoping that Christians are bigots--not a particularly good bet. Evangelical criticism of Mormons comes from a very small professionalized cadre of anti-Mormons who inhabit a very minor niche in the industry of Evangelical ministries.

Basically, Romney is as strong as McCain and Giuliani where his credentials are concerned, while having superior family values bona fides. Ironically, his one perceived weakness of being too liberal in some areas, is shared with his rivals. Romney actually has more money than his rivals at this point, although that's not expected to persist.

He's a very strong candidate in a field of strong candidates.

It was interesting to compare the announcements of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney--both men stated the obvious--confidence in the government is shot, the country faces challenges. Yet while Obama plaintively identified the problems and called for them to be solved, Romney expressed a set of principles and agenda. That has a lot to do with the respective cultures they are addressing. Obama has to be careful because Democrats are a herd of cats, often with diametrically-opposed interests. Its not in his interest to express an agenda, preferring to be "all things to all people" while he can. Republicans are more complimentary--economic, social and security conservatives require a candidate to address their concerns in concrete terms, but a policy on national security isn't necessarily going to conflict with a family values message.

All the Republican campaigns have been fairly low key to date. I hope that continues. I've been seen an awful lot of Hillary recently, usually saying things bound to create controversy. I'm sure she knows what she's doing, but that seems to me a very risky proposition almost two years before the election.

UPDATE: McCain appears to have a mortal fear of Romney. Wherever Romney goes, McCain sends operatives to try to steal his thunder. McCain scheduled a press conference three hours later today to "recieve the endorsements" of a number of prominent Michigan Republicans.

One can't really blame him. Romney is stealthily building a juggernaut. Little known is that more members of Congress have endorsed Romney that McCain, a major embarrassment. Romney has 25, including former speaker Denny Hastert. McCain has 21.

“He’s hurt himself with the Republican rank and file,” said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., who is leaning toward supporting Romney and who invited him to speak to a group of House Republicans in January. “There were a lot of times when McCain is the spoiler on legislation. House members have gotten tired of it over the last six years.”

Meanwhile, McCain is pushing news that he's accumulating Romney defectors.

“Sen. McCain is the clear choice,” said state Rep. Paul Loscocco (R-Holliston), who gave maximum $500 donations to Romney in 2002 and 2003. “As loyalty to the former governor starts to fade, (Republicans) are going to start examining who is the best person to lead as president. A lot of folks are excited about McCain.”

Really? Whose is excited about McCain?

Patrick Hynes at Anklebiting Pundits is about the only blogger I know who is overtly enthusiastic about McCain. McCain has terrific name recognition, but among conservative opinion-makers I would say there is respect, but little in the way of passion. Romney on the other hand is actively courting bloggers, and impressing them. McCain, like Hillary is a known quantity--we all know what we think about them and its unlikely that they'll be much change in that public perception. McCain's lack of fervent support at this point is unlikely improve with time. Romney can only go up, and Giuliani just has to stay up. Its little wonder that McCain is acting as aggressively and as early as he is.