It all seems a bit juvenile, except that we’re talking religion here, which is serious. And the only thing more heated than religion is politics. Mix the two, and you have an explosion that isn’t easy to clean up. In that environment looms Romney’s political future.

It seems pretty clear that Mitt Romney will run for president again in 2012. His chances aren’t too bad given that Republicans have a history of nominating high-profile candidates who have ran and lost before. I’d rate Romney as having a better shot than former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, particularly since the current focus on the economy and jobs is an issue that Romney has far more knowledge of than Huckabee, who is basically a social issues guy.

But there remains that Mormon problem for Romney. In 2012, are there still many evangelicals out there who will deliberately vote against the former Massachusetts governor solely due to his religion? It happened in Iowa in 2008, and it will probably happen again.

As Romney prepared to run in 2008, there was a conventional wisdom that because he had been elected Republican governor in blue-state Massachusetts, the “Mormon” issue wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for Romney in Iowa, with a caucus that is top-heavy with GOP evangelicals. Romney tried to counter his previous image as a Republican moderate by moving right on hot-button issues, including abortion.