the latest news on Faith & Politics-Romney, Energy bill, Farm bill, WIC, Iraq, Poll, CIA tapes destroyed, Iran, Climate change, Darfur, Editorials, and selected Op-Eds.

Sign up to receive our daily news summary via e-mail »

Faith & Politics-Romney. Romney vows balance on religion "In the most closely scrutinized moment of his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney declared yesterday that religion is central to his life and to America, but that he will not be a spokesman for Mormonism or serve the leaders of his church if he is elected president." In Speech on Faith, Romney Vows to Serve 'No One Cause' "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, seeking to allay suspicions about his Mormon faith, pledged to serve the common good rather than a single religion if elected president." Romney: No church above duty of office "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, confronting what could be the most difficult hurdle in his campaign for president, stood here to declare both the depth of his faith as a Mormon and his independence from any dictates of the church." Evangelicals may never take Romney on faith "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's speech on faith was powerful and convincing, analysts said -- sincere, effective, hit all the right notes. But will it help Romney, a Mormon, win over the key voting bloc of conservative Christians? The broad consensus: probably not." Romney, Eye on Evangelicals, Defends His Faith "Mitt Romney asked the nation not to reject his presidential candidacy because of his religion, assuring evangelical Christians and other religious voters that his values matched theirs in a speech that used the word "Mormon" only once." Appeal to 'moral heritage' becomes an act of leadership"Mitt Romney's highly anticipated religion speech yesterday was a political tour de force, rejecting the notion that he'd be bound as president by the leaders of his Mormon Church but also placing his faith among the many religions that constitute the "moral heritage" of the United States."

Energy bill. Broad Energy Bill Passed by House "The House brushed aside a new White House veto threat and handily approved a comprehensive energy bill that would raise automobile fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years and require increased use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity." House passes a sweeping energy bill "The House approved the biggest increase in vehicle fuel-economy standards since gasoline cost less than a dollar a gallon, in a sweeping energy bill that is headed for a showdown in the Senate and a possible veto from President Bush." House Sets Higher Goal for Vehicle Fuel Efficiency "Brushing aside a veto threat from the White House, the House passed a package of energy measures that includes a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States."

Farm bill. Senators Reach Tentative Farm Deal "Senators cleared a major hurdle in negotiations on a multibillion-dollar farm bill, agreeing to pare down a list of hundreds of proposed amendments. … The agreement, which allows each party to offer 20 amendments, could allow the Senate to pass the legislation before the end of the year."

WIC. WIC Food Program Being Overhauled "Let them eat tofu, the government says. That's one of the new food products being offered under a major overhaul of the Women, Infants and Children program. But primarily, the Agriculture Department wants more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on the plates of poor women and children and less milk, cheese, eggs and juice."

Iraq . Sadr militia moves to clean house "Since halting attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, the Shiite cleric's Mahdi Army has been weeding out alleged rogue elements." Petraeus Says Cleric Helped Curb Violence Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, said he applauds Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for helping, through a cease-fire, to reduce violent attacks in Iraq by 60 percent since June."

Poll. Bush loses ground with military families "Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found."

CIA tapes destroyed. Hayden Says CIA Videotapes Destroyed "The CIA destroyed videotapes it made in 2002 of two top terror suspects because it was afraid that keeping them "posed a security risk," Director Michael Hayden has told agency employees." C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations"Despite requests and amid scrutiny about its secret detention program, the C.I.A. did not give the videotapes to a federal court hearing or to the Sept. 11 commission." Lawmakers Back Limits on Interrogation Tactics "A Congressional conference committee has voted to outlaw the harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency against suspected high-level terrorists."

Iran . Review of Iran Intelligence to Be Sought "Senate Republicans are planning to call for a congressional commission to investigate the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran as well as the specific intelligence that went into it," Doves find fault with Iran report too "The new U.S. intelligence report that says Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 is suddenly raising concerns among the political center and left, as well as conservatives who have long called for a hard line against the Islamic Republic." NIE authors accused of partisan politics "Several current and former high-level government officials familiar with the authors of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran described the report as a politically motivated document written by anti-Bush former State Department officials," Despite Report, France and Germany Keep Pressure on Iran"The leaders of France and Germany said that Iran remained a danger and that other nations needed to keep up the pressure over its nuclear program despite a United States intelligence report's conclusion that Tehran was no longer building a bomb."

Climate change. In Bali, developing nations push for climate aid "At the UN-sponsored climate talks, countries seek money to cope with severe floods and other global-warming effects."

Darfur . Darfur today: No money or food "Malnutrition, malaria and typhoid are rife, while cases of diarrhoea are rising. Some observers feel that after a period of "low-level hostility", Darfur could be about to tip once more into widespread fighting" Lack of Donated Copters Harms Darfur Effort, U.N. Leader Says "Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the refusal of countries to donate helicopters for the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur was endangering the scheduled start of operations three weeks from now."

Editorial s .

The Crisis of Faith(New York Times) "It was a distressing moment to witness Mitt Romney cowed into defending his faith by a powerful minority determined to impose its religious tenets."

Romney defends faith in speech he shouldn't have to give (USA Today) "It's hard not to be impressed with the speech former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney gave Thursday on faith and religion. He displayed a deep, intuitive understanding of the proper role of religion in public life, while dispelling the notion that his Mormon beliefs are somehow aberrant."

Op-Eds.

Huckabee Plays the Religion Card (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post) "Mormonism should be a total irrelevancy in any political campaign. It is not. Which is why Mitt Romney had to deliver his JFK "religion speech" yesterday. He didn't want to. But he figured that he had to."

Boldness, Watered Down (E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post) "Romney's speech at the George H.W. Bush library in College Station, Tex., was by turns brilliant and frustrating, inspiring yet also transparently political in its effort to find the precise balance that would satisfy Republican primary voters."

Answering Critics -- and Kennedy (Michael Gerson, Washington Post) "In the strange cycle of American history, once again a youthful presidential candidate from Massachusetts with a suspect religion has spoken in Texas about the relationship of church and state at a key moment in his campaign."

Faith vs. the Faithless(DAVID BROOKS, New York Times) "It is not always easy to blend an argument for religious liberty with an argument for religious assertiveness, but Mitt Romney did it well in a speech on Thursday."