Romney back in enemy territory

South Carolina wasn't kind to Mitt Romney in 2008, but the ex-Massachusetts governor and presidential contender is hoping for a better fate in the Southern bellwether in 2012.

He made his first trip to the state since forming a presidential exploratory committee, plying a crowd with mustard-based barbecue and boiled peanuts, photo ops with kids and meeting with business owners carping about jobless benefits and illegal immigration. He left with a pair of endorsements from state legislators.

If nothing else, the mustard-based barbecue was a bold choice in a state with loyalties split mostly between mustard- and vinegar-based concoctions.

A crowd of about 40 in a hot warehouse stacked with plumbing supplies cheered when he said it was time for politicians to spend less time thinking about getting re-elected and more time on "thinking about how to get the country on the right track and put Americans back to work."

These are relatively easy times for Romney.

He hasn't formally entered the race, though he's regarded as the frontrunner. He's raising cash faster than likely opponents and gets to choose when to engage them. He's finessing the perception of his big liability: the Massachusetts health care law that Obama credits as the template for the national health care system Republicans abhor.

Yesterday was a soft-opening of sorts in a state that beat Romney up in 2008. He spent loads of cash and time there, but bailed days before the first-in-the-South primary's polls opened and he knew he couldn't win.

In 2008, Romney positioned himself early as the one to beat, building a campaign rivaled only by Arizona Sen. John McCain's as the state's best financed, staffed and endorsed. Romney earned endorsements from U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Bob Jones, the now-retired chancellor of Christian fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville.

But questions about Romney's Mormon faith dogged him. He couldn't persuade religious conservatives to look beyond their skepticism over that or his reversals on social issues such as abortion and gay rights.

Warren Tompkins, a Columbia political consultant on Romney's 2008 campaign, said the campaign team was "never sure how to deal with it. Hopefully, they will not repeat that mistake."

McCain won the state, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee claimed many of the Christian and social conservatives. Romney's team fled to Florida, a richer delegate prize, when polling days before the South Carolina vote showed that Romney wouldn't win or even come in second.

Romney has a single staffer working in South Carolina, David Raad, who knows religion is certain to come up again, particularly if Jon Huntsman, Utah's former governor and a fellow Mormon, enters the race as expected.

"I'm sure that people will consider religion in this race," Raad said, but he added: "We hope to get back to the issues that matter to a lot of Americans."