Politics

FARMINGTON -- Former state Sen. Terry R. Spencer, of Syracuse, has declared his candidacy for the Davis County Commission, and via a series of letters, he has been in contact with potential delegates.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Honduran-born Antonella Cecilia Packard converted to the Mormon Faith 20 years ago, she said it was like “coming home.”

The Catholic-educated Packard, who grew up in “the middle of Mayan ruins,” appreciated the faith’s strong sense of family and conservative values. She also saw her own history in the Book of Mormon with stories of migrations, tragedies and triumphs of a people many Mormons believe are the ancestors of some present-day Latinos.

But two decades after her conversion while a college student at Mississippi State, the 43-year-old Packard finds herself on a new mission: defeating Mitt Romney and any Mormon politician who betrays what she sees as a basic Mormon principle of protecting immigrants.

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney likes to tell people in Michigan he's one of them -- and whether voters see him that way could be crucial in determining his political fate.

Romney, 64, who is in a tense battle for the Republican presidential nomination, grew up in the Detroit area. His father, George, was a popular Michigan governor.

But George Romney left office 43 years ago. And Mitt Romney made his political and business reputation in Massachusetts, rescued the Olympics in Salt Lake City and has homes in New Hampshire, California and elsewhere.

OGDEN -- Is greed still good? That's assuming it ever was good, as declared by a character named Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film "Wall Street."

SALT LAKE CITY -- Over and over, Mitt Romney takes credit for turning around the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City after a bribery scandal and says the success of the games is one big reason he should be president.

"My leadership helped save the Olympics from scandal and give our American athletes the chance to make us all proud," Romney said the night he won the Florida primary, his biggest victory of the Republican nomination fight so far.

He'll put his time running the Olympics back in the spotlight Saturday when he speaks at a major celebration honoring the 10-year anniversary of the games. Romney plans to tell the crowd how his time running the Olympics is a fundamental part of the resume he's relying on as he runs for president.

But is the credit deserved? And how much credit really goes to the federal government, which ended up paying nearly $600 million directly to support Olympic projects, much of it after Romney's urging?

DETROIT — With a new poll showing a virtual dead heat in Michigan’s presidential primary, the leading Republican candidates veered Thursday from defensiveness to discomfort.