Welcome to the The Chair. I had long intended to start a blog dedicated to thwarting Hillary Clinton's run for the Presidency, but I no longer think the woman is electable. (Whatever you think about Dick Morris, he is right about Hillary, that she's a leftist version of Nixon in a skirt. I might add, a charmless, Machiavellian scold who shatters the shrill-o-meter whenever she gets worked up.) For the time being, I'm free to focus on two grander themes: victory over jihadist terror and all its support in whatever form, and the the necessity of moral, principled government. to the pursuit of happiness.

This presidential primary season, Hugh Hewitt's new book, A Mormon in the Whitehouse is a must-read. I got my copy from Conservative Book Club and read it in a week. Hugh's stated purpose is to persuade others not to deny Mitt Romney the Presidency because of his Mormon faith. [Disclosure: I'm LDS.] Hugh wouldn't have bothered with this theme had he not first been sold on Romney's suitability for the office. Hugh admits up front that if the election were held today, he would vote for Romney. He has also said many times that he votes for the most conservative candidate with a realistic chance of electability. It's pretty clear that Hugh thinks Romney is that man in this race. After reading the book, so do I.

Hugh saw the Mormon issue coming a mile away, and managed to frame the coming debate by getting there the "firstest with the mostest." He did such a good job that it's doubtful anybody who comments on the "Mormon question" during the campaign  will be able to do so intelligently without grappling with Hugh's arguments.  Two stand out, one addressed to evangelical Christian skeptics and one addressed to secular skeptics.

To evangelicals who cannot vote for a candidate who believes all that wacky stuff about and by Joseph Smith--and there is no question about Romney's devout, practicing-Mormon credentials--Hugh reminds them that the Biblical Christian narrative is often just as irrational as is the modern LDS narrative. So you think it a tall tale that God and His Son Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith and called him to reestablish original Church organization? What about the disciple Stephen, the martyr, who, while being stoned, gazed into heaven and saw God and Jesus on his right hand? Is belief in that event any more rational? An angel appeared to John and we got Revelation. Mormons believe that, and they also believe an angel appeared to Joseph Smith, and the result was the Book of Mormon. Why is it any more rational to believe in dead, ancient prophets and apostles than in more modern, living ones? Water-to-wine? Lazarus? Feeding the 5,000? The political point is if evangelicals brand Romney as unelectable because of his Mormonism, they will be helping to create the noose that hangs themselves as unelectable.

Hugh argues there is an American tradition springing from the Constitution, call it the Spirit of Article VI, if you will, that forbids rejection of candidates based solely on their religious beliefs. That tradition has been good for America. Consider, for example, that a religious test might have denied us the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, the deist-or-atheist without whom we would not have acquired the middle third of the continental United States, and without whom, ironically, we would not have much of the Bible Belt!  Abrogating this tradition--forcing a religious "test" upon Romney--will bring a host of negative and unintended consequences that will reverberate far beyond the 2008 primary. For example, there is already a new atheistic militancy on the part of secularists in the media, academia and science. Dumping on the Mormons will help legitimize that tactic in general. Today the Mormons, tomorrow the _________ [name your faith here.]

Exclusion from the Presidency might lead to exclusion from Congress and from other offices in government. Political exclusion leads to political persecution. Doesn't it? Do evangelical Christians really want to help open such a Pandora's box? They'll have no control over what emerges.

Moreover, Hugh reminds everybody, our most devout, practicing evangelical Christian president was none other than Jimmy Carter, a catastrophe of a president. (30 years later, we're still dealing with Iran and Afghanistan.) Lest I should be too ungrateful, I thank my memories of Jimmy for my 5.5% 30-yr. fixed home mortgage loan. (Sparked by childhood memories of my parents' gloomy Carter-era conversations about inflation, unemployment and double-digit interest. I now steer widely away from any loan with a variable rate.)

And, Hugh reminds the secularist skeptics the country has had many presidents whose practice of "irrational" Christianity didn't seem to hinder their effectiveness or to hurt the country. Our two truly great presidents held religious beliefs:  Washington, a possible Christian (I think he was), and Lincoln, probably not a Christian for most of his life according to most biographers. One wonders what sort of conniption the MSM would have if a modern president delivered a speech remotely like Lincoln's Second Inaugural. Mormons share enough Christian values that they can be expected to behave in similar ways. (But please don't ask how my faith produced a Harry Reid.)

A Mormon in the Whitehouse arrives perfectly timed to help innoculate Romney from any surprises or last-minute issues related to his faith. After a book like this, any such ambush will be certain to backfire.

Ok, but what about Mitt Romney's qualifications for the presidency? Hugh's book does double-duty as a pro-Romney yet credible campaign biography. We learn quite a bit about Mrs. Romney and some of her clan, each of their five boys and their families, and much about several of Romney's business and political associates. The man's intellect appears to be boundless, and he has parlayed it and his other many talents into a billion dollar fortune. Romney is a turnaround artist; nearly everything important that he touches turns to gold, from companies on the ropes to the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics (a task he didn't need to do and for which he accepted no pay). He loves America and believes in it, and in its founding charters and principles. Romney has the intellect and skill to rebuild the Reagan coalition of defense-, social- and economic conservatives, and the talent to articulate and sell it with Reaganesque optimism.

Whether you already support Romney, seek to tear him down in favor of another, or if you merely want to learn more to make up your mind, you'll need to read A Mormon in the Whitehouse. Just get it. When you're done, check out Romney's CPAC speech at http://www.mymanmitt.com/mitt-romney/cpac/index.asp?part=5<br>, and see whether it doesn't tend to verify everything Hugh says about him.