Governor Romney recently vetoed a bill in Massachusetts that would have provided state-sponsored preschool. He said the cost would be in excess of $1 billion and that the benefits of universal preschool (for 2-4 year olds) are unproven. His stance earned him plaudits from the conservative National Review and Evangelicals for Mitt. Note that the bill passed both houses in Massachusetts unanimously, so Mitt’s stance is likely to be pretty unpopular in the Bay State.

I’m not sure how I feel about this issue.

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Very interesting story on Steve Young, former BYU QB and 49ers star, in the Deseret News over the weekend. To summarize: Young is living in Palo Alto, where he is working at an investment company. He regularly travels to Utah, where most of his family now lives (having moved from CT). He is happily married to Barb and has three kids and appears active in his Palo Alto ward, where he is teaching the teachers. For all you fellow 49ers fans out there from the 1980s and early 1990s, I often see Bart Oates at the Manhattan temple, where he regularly volunteers. It seems the mind is turning toward football in August…

Think back to November 2004. President Bush just won reelection. Most actively religious people in the U.S. were cheering. Many, a minority, of sincerely religious people were not. They spent a lot of time pondering the issue of why so many religious people voted for Bush and other Republicans. Hundreds of articles and a long list of books were written on the subject. How could the Left get religious people to vote for Leftists? (Don’t you remember the amusing scene of Hillary Clinton reminding everybody how religious she really is?)

Now, fast forward to 2006.

This article just published in Slate makes the point better than I can.

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This column from Iowa included an interesting comment on Mitt Romney:

One year from now, the state GOP will hold its all-important straw poll in Ames. It’s a survey that in the past has knocked poor finishers out of the presidential race. Romney is already at work trying to win it.

He has made more than a half-dozen trips to the state and lined up some of the best political talent in the Iowa GOP to work for him. While some experts say Romney’s Mormon faith will hurt him with some voters, it seemed to be helping him here Saturday. Romney organizers said several church members showed up and are deciding on their own to volunteer. “We don’t have to work it,” said a key operative. “It works itself.”

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