How did Romney's campaign affect America's view of Mormonism?

An interesting Feb. 8 Salt Lake Tribune article entitled "Mitt's bid for White House took the pulse of nation on Mormonism" opened with the following statement...

"Mitt Romney dragged fellow Mormons into the presidential race, whether they liked it or not. Most thought publicity for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whether positive or negative, would be a good thing. With optimistic naivete, many believed the more people knew of Mormonism, the more Latter-day Saints would be accepted into mainstream America, legitimate players on the national stage. That didn't happen. Instead, some said, Romney's failed campaign revealed what many Americans really think about Mormons. It forced Latter-day Saints to acknowledge that they don't just belong to another American denomination..."

(The rest of the article is on WNW.sltrib.com.)

How did Romney's campaign affect America's view of Mormonism, in your opinion?
FYI... I'm not pro- or anti-Mormon; neither do I take this article as "the gospel truth." I simply found it interesting and wanted to learn from other people's opinions on these statements.

nope, it was his personal arrogance and inability to attract supporters. people looked at his religion as second to his choice of words.

It showed that MSNBC hate all but their own.

You should newspapers with a grain of salt. Most of what they write about the election, including Mormonism, is just so much whee.

I find Mr. Romney to be an intolerant asshole with ugly views who is insensitive to anyone but himself.

Fortunately, I know Mormons who are nice people so I'm not going to judge them by Mitt Romney and what some as$ of a newspaper reporter writes to make a deadline.

Romney did not impact my views on Mormonism. I studied Mormonism when I was young and there is much in that religion that is not public information (and I'm not referring to polygamy). Romney did nothing to address the concerns of mainstream Christianity that Mormonism is a cult.

I was more turned off by what I call his "plastic-Nessa" and his whining about Huckabee than his Mormonism. I also do not think he could have gotten the Governorship of Massachusetts without being Liberal and do not share the views of others that he was the "most Conservative" in the race.

I do not agree with the statement found at the beginning of the article...I am not LDS...and disagree with plenty of their doctrine...But I still have no problem with Mitt or other Mormons... Many feel the way I do.(and I live in the South)...Just because he did not win the nomination...doesn't make the country bigoted toward LDS's... Huckabee is Baptist(the largest denomination in the country)...yet he still had to put up with anti-Christian/Bible rhetoric.

BTW - I'm Baptist...and voted Romney...

the campaign had nothing to do with Mormonism

All Romney's campaign did for Mormomism was to raise hatred and suspicion for something that they did not understand.

I checked out the article (thanks for the source info). It was intriguing that the Mormon church admitted how they were hoping Romney's campaign would help them be more accepted in Christian circles. Although his campaign was not about religion or Mormonism, it was hard for Americans to separate his religious affiliation from his politics. Just as people judge Bush and Huckabee by their Christian faith, Romney was judged by his being a Mormon and for about 50% percent of Americans (according to a recent poll), that fact had an affect on whether or not they voted for him.