'This Is Not a Bluff'

What did Romney say [when you suggested that]?
He said he would consider it. [But] he has not given that speech. I've seen him go to South Carolina and say things like, you know, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior." Well, you know what? That ain't going to work in South Carolina. The most generous description [evangelicals] will give [Mormonism] is the one that I give it, which is that it is the fourth Abrahamic religion, you know, Judaism being the first, Christianity being the second, and Islam being the third. And Joseph Smith plays the Mohammed figure in a fourth Abrahamic faith, but it is not a Trinitarian Christian faith. Evangelicals know this because the two most evangelistic groups in America are evangelicals and Mormons, and so evangelical pastors have taught their people what Mormonism believes because they want to inoculate them against [missionaries]. They know. I mean, they have had Sunday school classes, and they have had sermons preached on the beliefs of Mormonism. Trust me, that is not an argument he is going to win, and it is not an argument he has to win.

What about [Fred] Thompson? There was a lot of enthusiasm for him, [but] it seems to be deflating.
Well, we'll see. You know, the one hole in his résumé was that he's never run anything, but he's running a campaign now, and we're going to know within 60 to 90 days whether he's an effective executive or not. I thought in the first debate that he started off shaky and found his sea legs and was in charge of all he surveyed by the end. He's also been my senator for eight years. I have seen him campaign up close and personal. He's a natural retail politician.

Do you buy this portrait of him as not having fire in the belly?
No, I don't. He wouldn't run if he didn't have a desire to be president, but he wants to be president for a reason.

If the Republicans do nominate Giuliani and if the Democrats nominate Hillary, do you think Hillary is more likely—
I don't know. I do see Giuliani as sort of an East Coast version of [California Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger. I think that what you could see is a complete scrambling of the Red-Blue State map, so that you would have Giuliani running on a conservative fiscal and security platform and a liberal social-issues platform, winning a state like California and then losing a state like Texas. Enough [evangelicals] could stay home, and I think Hillary will get massive turnout among African-Americans, a massive turnout among working-class women, and a massive turnout among Hispanics, so that you could see California and Pennsylvania and New Jersey and New York going Red, and you could see Alabama and Tennessee and Florida and Texas going Blue.

When Rudy says "I will appoint strict constructionist judges," you are not hearing that?
I hear it. I hear it.

Well, you don't hear Hillary saying that.
[Land turns to question a NEWSWEEK reporter] Could you vote for a Klansman?