Oregon Public Broadcasting

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave what many have dubbed his 'Kennedy Speech' Thursday. It's being called that because questions over John F Kennedy's Catholic faith dogged him, like questions about Mormonism are dogging Romney.

Mitt Romney: "I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith."

But the questions most Americans have about Romney's Mormon faith are different than the questions Oregonians have, as Ethan Lindsey reports.

Standing outside of Senator Gordon Smith's Portland office at a protest rally, John Bradach, Sr. holds a sign calling for the impeachment of the President and Vice President of the United States.

To him, it's more than a political issue.

John Bradach: “It is a basic part of morality, and good, and God that we don't go off launching preemptive wars that create circumstances that we kill 4000 of our own kids. I just don't think that's right.”

Bradach is what you might call a member of the 'Religious Left', the liberal answer to the 'Religious Right'.

These are voters who choose candidates based on so-called 'moral issues'.

They helped drive George W.  Bush into office. And they also could help propel either Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee to the Republican nomination next year.

But faith and religion aren't nearly as influential in Oregon and the Northwest as they are in the rest of the country.

In fact, by almost any measure, the Pacific Northwest is the most secular and least-church-going of any region in the U.S.

But Bradach, for one, says he attends church regularly, and prayer is an important part of his life.

He says his life changed during the beginning  of the Iraq war, when both his parents and his nephew, Travis, died. His parents here in Oregon, Travis in Iraq.

John Bradach: “And those are transformative experiences, I can tell you that going through a funeral for your parents in those circumstances brings you closer to God. And the experience of seeing a relative come down a luggage rack under an American flag late at night on a warm, summer night at the Portland airport rivets your soul.”

But even Bradach says he wouldn't let a candidate's religion affect his vote.

And he points to Senator Gordon Smith as an example. Gordon Smith, like Mitt Romney, is a Mormon.

Bill Lunch is an Oregon State University political science professor and OPB's political analyst.

Bill Lunch: “Gordon Smith has been able to soft-pedal his religious affiliation, or to put it a little differently, he can in a very secular state such as Oregon, essentially avoid discussion of the fact that he belongs to a religious minority group about which many Americans have a good deal of skepticism.”

Smith rarely talks about his personal faith. One exception is when he discusses  his son Garrett's depression and eventual suicide.

And, in October, he talked to  OPB  about polygamy for a story profiling his political family tree.

Gordon Smith: “I am certainly grateful that my religious faith no longer practices this biblical practice of plural marriage.  But I also know what kind of people they were.  They were humble, hard working, family oriented, and given to public service really as a matter of religious faith.”

And that's why political analyst Lunch says Romney's faith, and its greater visibility on the campaign trail, could actually turn out to be a disadvantage for Smith.

Smith is running for reelection next year in a political environment already seen as tricky for Republicans.

Bill Lunch: “Remember that the Oregon primary isn't until May, it's one of the latest primaries in the country. If by May of 2008, Romney is a major candidate, meaning he has a real chance of getting the nomination, that would then have the affect of raising the visibility of his religious views and the fact that Gordon Smith shares those views would certainly get some attention.”

But the jury remains out on whether attention like that would really hurt Smith, or any other Mormon, at the Oregon ballot box.

At a Menorah lighting in Salem this year, to celebrate  Hanukkah, Governor Ted Kuolongoski was asked if faith played a role in politics.

He said he's heard the statistics, about Oregon's low church-attendance rates--nevertheless...

Gov. Ted Kuolongoski: “Most of the people I've met in government have a deep faith. They believe in a greater being and they believe we also have a responsibility to each other.”

He says no doubt faith does play a role in politics, but given Oregon's diversity, it's completely unpredictable just what that will mean.