Romney in Iowa

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David Lieneman has a great candid photo at the head of Michael Luo's profile on Mitt Romney in Iowa in today's NYT (check out the man looking on from behind)...but what I pulled from the article was this gem of a quote from a Romney county campaign chair, Bart Pals:

“My concern is that he has a moral compass,” said Mr. Pals, 48, “and his moral compass is pointing in the same direction as mine.”

Now, according to Luo, Mr. Pals ad libbed that phrase as his way of introducing Romney's Mormon faith to a rural Iowan audience. However, having just come from Jeffrey Feldman's book talk here in Berkeley introducing his new book Framing the Debate, I couldn't help but think, that's a powerful frame, there, Mr. Pals. Democratic candidates should give that language a heads up. I think "moral compass" unlocks a powerful sense of what motivates the political commitments of all our Presidential candidates.

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