Source: The Boston Globe

On November 9, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "The election of Mitt Romney-- an adherent of a faith shared by less than half of a percent of his fellow Massachusetts residents-- demonstrates an increasing acceptance of Mormons in the United States, as well as the increasing willingness of Americans to elect members minority faiths... Romney's aides say his faith has no public significance. "It's absolutely irrelevant," said his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom. "People here didn't even think about it. It wasn't even a topic of discussion." But political scientist insist his election has a significant import, both in terms of religion and politics. "Romney's election suggests that in one century we've come a long way, so that now its' perfectly acceptable to be Mormon," said Paul A. Djupe, an assistant professor of political science at Denison University and chairman of the religion and politics section of the American Political Science Association. "It also says something about eh tolerance of the electorate."