Several recent polls have shown Republican Senator Gordon Smith’s race in Oregon getting closer, while Tom Udall in New Mexico and his non-Mormon cousin Mark Udall in Colorado are opening up a wider gap over their opponents. Here are results as of September 23 from CQPolitics.com. [Congressional Quarterly is a respected non-partisan media organization that follows Congress.]

Senator Gordon Smith – Oregon — Smith is in a statistical dead heat with his Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley, the Speaker of the state House, leading him 46 percent to 45 percent with 2 percent choosing “other” and 7 percent undecided in a poll completed September 15.

Congressman Tom Udall – New Mexico Senate Race — Udall is leading his Republican opponent Congressman Steven Pearce by 57 percent to 37 percent with 6 percent undecided in a poll completed September 19.

Congressman Mark Udall – Colorado Senate Race Mark Udall of the Arizona Mormon political dynasty, who himself is not a Church member, leads his Republican opponent former Congressman Bob Schaffer by 48 percent to 40 percent with 1 percent “other” and 11 percent undecided in a poll completed September 21.

“With the analysis of Gordon Smith’s race, Mr. King identified some areas where Senator Smith’s religion has come up. Is it a factor at all for Tom Udall, particularly since Mr. Udall does not participate with the Mormon church?”

In my discussion of Gordon Smith’s senate reelection campaign I mentioned the incident when Senator Smith talked about his Mormon background. That was a rare instance of when the Church was raised in a campaign outside Utah or southeastern Idaho. In following Tom Udall’s campaign, I haven’t encountered any occasions when his Mormon background has come up. I think it has nothing to do with his level of church activity and more to do with the fact that church membership isn’t a political issue.

Remember that the political parties did not used to be so ideologically pure.

Both the Republicans and Democrats had conservative and liberal wings.

And of course how can we forget the legendary division of the wards between Democrat and Republican at the time of statehood.

On the one hand, when we are counting Church membership for statistical purposes, we include any baptized member of the Church, who has not requested that his or her name be removed or whose name has not been removed for disciplinary reasons. The standard is not high — no requirement about Sacrament Meeting attendance, no requirement for a current temple recommend, no requirement for an address.

On the other hand when we are looking at political figures, we want to say that this or that political leader does not have the same political views as I (a Church member) do, and therefore, he or she can’t be a member of the Church. And that — not Sacrament Meeting attendance or holding a temple recommend — is the basis for most people’s judgment about whether to consider a political leader a Church member.

By the Church’s definition and by his own definition, Congressman Mo Udall (D-Arizona 1961-1991) was LDS. He frequently referred to himself as “a one-eyed Mormon Democrat from conservative Arizona, and you can’t have a higher handicap that that.” He expressed opposition to for the Church policy toward Africans before it was changed in 1978, but he still considered himself a Mormon. The New York Times obituary of Mo Udall does an excellent job of looking at the Mormon facets of Udall’s life. (“Morris K. Udall, Fiercely Liberal Congressman, Dies at 76,” New York Times, December 14, 1998.)

I to am a dreaded Mormon Democrat. Tom was a good State Attorney General and is a very dependable trustworthy Congressman. He will make a great Senator. His religion active or inactive does not play a role here in New Mexico, nor should it.