Mitt Romney created history as he finally clinched the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in the November presidential, becoming the first Mormon nominee from a major political party.
Romney‘s historic feat came nearly 200 years after the founding of Mormonism by Joseph Smith, who himself ran for president to call attention to his flock’s persecution.
The Mormon Church has six million members in the United States.
Former Massachusetts governor Romney succeeded where his father, George, and others, including Senators Orrin Hatch and Mo Udall, did not.
Mitt Romney who lost the Republican nomination to John McCain in 2008 is also the third presidential nominee from Massachusetts in the last quarter century, joining Democrats Michael Dukakis in 1988 and John Kerry in 2004.
The last Republican nominee from Massachusetts was Calvin Coolidge, in 1924.
(IANS)