Having won the CPAC straw poll and beginning to pass long time front runner John McCain in national polls Mitt Romney's profile is beginning to be raised and thus I felt the need when I had a few minutes with the candidate this week to ask him some very direct questions about his position on issues. I acknowledge, as does he, that he has not always believed as he does today. I for one am satisfied in talking with him however that these are his genuinely held positions. His answers, in his own words:

KMC: Governor I speak to a large audience of "values voters" on-air live from New York every day. Where would you place yourself today in the debate over abortion... unedited?

Gov. Romney: Well, I'm pro-life. This is an issue I've looked at and I recognize a great struggle in the American psyche as we look at the needs of the unborn child, which I feel very deeply. And at the same time we are concerned about women and the choices that they would like to make with their own bodies and their own lives. And I've come down squarely on the side of life. I feel it is important for us to protect human life if we are going to be a civilized society. For that reason some two years ago I authored a piece in the Boston Globe that explained why I am pro-life and I am proud of that position.

KMC: Governor as you are aware there is a fundamental battle on the issue of marriage in our society today, where do you stand on that fundamental issue of marriage?

Gov. Romney: I believe it is critical that we have marriage before we have babies. And the reason for that is I want our kids to grow up with a mom and a dad. If at all possible. That's the ideal setting for raising a child. If there can be a Dad involved in their life as well as a great mom, that child has a much better chance of getting a great education. When there is a single mom the chance that the child is going to be raised in poverty is fifty-one percent. Where the mom is married, that is only seven percent. So let's have, if we can more marriage before we have more babies.

KMC: Governor as you know, church goers are very concerned about a secular progressive attempt to redefine marriage to make it become anything other than what it has traditionally been understood, what does Mitt Romney say about that?

Gov. Romney: Marriage must be a relationship between a man and a woman. And this shouldn't be based on concerns about supposed "adult rights." This is instead focused on what I think is critical for a child. The ideal setting to raise a child is where there is a mom and a dad involved in their life.

KMC: What is your view to the classic struggle we fight against today in the Global War against terror and particularly in Iraq? Especially in what we are seeing today? Continued...