Why one evangelical will vote for Mitt Romney

We’ve been down the road before of why evangelicals don’t support Mitt Romney and whether Americans are ready for a Mormon president (the answers are really, really related). But David French, the co-founder of Evangelicals for Mitt, which I think is similar in its unexpectedness to Jews for Sarah, argues in The Daily Caller that evangelicals should vote for Romney.

French writes:

Presidents aren’t pastors. We don’t look to presidents for pastoral guidance but instead for national leadership. We don’t think, “I like those Bush tax cuts. I think I’ll check out the Methodist church.”

Applying these same lessons to Mormons, does watching Harry Reid make you want to talk to a Mormon missionary? How about when you fly JetBlue? During a smooth, comfortable flight do you use the in-flight Wi-Fi to surf LDS.org? Does a particularly elegant turndown service at a high-end Marriott put you in the mood to download the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s greatest hits? If you’re a sports fan, did watching Steve Young connect with Jerry Rice make you complete an application to BYU?

The workings of God on the human heart are infinitely more complex, miraculous, and mysterious than Smith’s simplistic formula of successful Mormon president equals more successful Mormon religion. Simply put, I trust God to safeguard the integrity of His Gospel.

When I started this journey almost five years ago, I didn’t know Mitt and Ann personally. I just knew that Mitt had enormous integrity, a strong marriage, a record of real accomplishment, and shared my values on every important political and cultural battle of our time.

Read the rest here.