Mitt Romney during a fundraising visit to Phoenix Thursday.

howard fischer / capitol media

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When Tucsonan David Hoefferle tours local Republican clubs and chit-chats in GOP circles about his favorite presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, he finds voters are warm.

They like Romney's business background and conservative stance on social issues.

But by the end of his presentation, Hoefferle says, "Somebody will eventually raise their hand and say, 'Yeah, but he's Mormon.' "

"The question is lingering out there," admits Hoefferle, co-chair of Romney's Pima County organization and himself a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hoefferle's efforts demonstrate the dilemma — and opportunity — Romney's religion presents in Arizona and elsewhere.

On one hand, polling shows voters are skeptical of electing a Mormon to be president.

It's a religion that is mysterious to many; considered non-Christian, even cultish, by some evangelicals. Incidents like the high-profile Warren Jeffs case don't help matters — even though Jeffs heads an excommunicated splinter group, and the Mormon church disavowed polygamy in the 1800s.

On the flip side, even though Romney's faith has received considerable attention as a political handicap, in Arizona it appears to have catapulted his candidacy to upper-tier status.

In fact, the success of the campaign's Tucson efforts, and those statewide, are rooted in Romney's religious background.

Arizona has one of the largest Mormon populations in the country, with more than 360,000 registered members — ranked fourth out of the 50 states.

"It's a two-edged sword in Arizona with the Mormons," says Bruce Merrill, a political scientist and pollster at Arizona State University. "There's no question the Mormons here will overwhelmingly support him. But being Mormon cuts both ways."

Since August, Romney — a former CEO and Massachusetts governor — has come within striking distance of Arizona Sen. John McCain in statewide polling. As McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have watched their numbers decline since the beginning of the year, Romney's have risen.

In Southern Arizona, Romney supporters have developed the strongest local organization outside of McCain's campaign, Republicans say. Support from the LDS community was key.

"Romney has gathered up good local people to go out there for him," says Linda Barber, president of the Pima County Republican Club. "I haven't seen anything from the other candidates yet."

There's further evidence of his viability in fundraising reports. In the first half of the year, Romney raised $1 million in Arizona; the only candidate to raise more was McCain.

Locally, Hoefferle and other supporters have developed a network of more than 500 Romney fans, he says. Right now, the majority are Mormon but Hoefferle says that's changing.

"I would say those people who have the greatest interest are really non-LDS," he said.

Although Hoefferle, a 53-year-old financial consultant, was initially attracted to Romney because of his faith, he says voters aren't testing a candidate solely on religion. And he wouldn't be supporting Romney, he says, if it wasn't for his background as a CEO.

"It's the values that people are looking for," he says.

But whether those values — or more specifically, Romney's faith — will jive with evangelical Christians in the GOP base is another matter.

In pure numbers, Arizona seems a welcoming state for Mormon politicians.

Even though only about 5 percent of Arizonans are Mormon, the Arizona Legislature has 15 members who have publicly listed themselves as Mormon — about 16 percent of the House and Senate.

In 2004, two of the top three Republican leadership positions in both the House and Senate, as well as the top Senate Democrat post, were held by LDS members. Recognizing their influence in the state at that time, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Methodist, traveled to Salt Lake City to visit with top Mormon leaders.

But winning high-profile statewide elections can prove to be more difficult for Mormons. It's been 20 years since Evan Mecham, a Mormon, was impeached and vacated the governor's office. And in 2002, Matt Salmon lost to Napolitano, breaking 17 years of GOP success in gubernatorial elections. Republicans blame the loss in part on his Mormon religion.

Gene Chewning, an evangelical minister and Republican activist, says he doesn't consider Mormons to be Christians.

A politician's faith, however, wouldn't influence his vote, Chewning says, even if the individual was an atheist.

"I don't agree with Romney's religion, but I'm not looking at electing him as my bishop or pope," says Chewning, who is planning to run for the GOP nomination in Congressional District 7 next year. "I'm not backing him, but I'm not against him."

Among Romney's local supporters is Ed Parker, past executive director of the Pima County Republican Party and a Salmon supporter in 2002. Parker, also a Mormon, says the issue has been overblown.

"If the media wasn't out there all the time talking about it, I don't think anyone else would," he says.

Still, the issue does come up, says Pete Davis, one of Romney's non-Mormon supporters.

"I'm Irish Catholic," the 77-year-old Green Valley retiree says with a chuckle when asked if he's Mormon. Davis, originally from Rhode Island, says he did once support a candidate because of his religion — John F. Kennedy in 1960, the first and only Catholic president.

Nearly 48 years later, he's volunteering for Romney, partly, he says, because he's the only one of the top-tier candidates who's been married just once.

"In my point of view, he made a promise and he kept it," Davis says. "He's that kind of individual."

Romney's potential here and nationally is still in question, and not just because of his faith.

Many Republicans are still undecided about who to support, polling shows. And Romney's previous statements claiming to be pro-choice on abortion and in favor of civil unions for same-sex couples make some conservatives suspicious. While local supporters say those comments were taken out of context, it's still an issue to voters.

But Democrats are certainly taking Romney seriously. The Democratic National Committee has dedicated more press releases to him than any other Republican candidate.

For now, supporters here hope the former governor's lead in early states like Michigan and Iowa will put him in a solid place for Arizona's Feb. 5 primary.

And both Parker and Hoefferle stress that with less than four months before Arizona's presidential preference election, they're confident their early groundwork in Southern Arizona will offset any questions about his religion.

"I doubt very much that we're going to find 100 percent of people are going to accept someone by agreeing on someone's religion," Hoefferle says. But he adds, "Mitt Romney is just the whole package."