Yesterday Mitt Romney joined a group of religious leaders in Massachusetts to call for a ballot initiative in 2008 to define marriage between a man and a woman:

"I'm concerned whenever there is discussion that suggests that there might be a way of keeping the voters from expressing their will," said Romney, who used the word "democracy" 10 times at a State House press conference that included reporters from national news outlets.

"That's not the nature of democracy and that's not the country and the commonwealth I love," Romney said.

Romney went beyond calling for a vote on same-sex marriage, saying he shared O'Malley's belief that same-sex marriage ought to be banned.

The governor called legalized gay marriage "a huge error and wrong."

"The ideal setting of society overall, is a setting where there's a mother and a father," Romney said.

Though I personally don't favor a federal marriage amendment, I find Romney to be among its most eloquent defenders. He made a reasonable and persuasive case for the FMA in a recent letter to the Senate, and I've also seen him make the same case on the stump. Obviously, the issue appeals greatly to many Republican base voters, but I suspect the tone and tenor with which Romney approaches the subject will resonate with a broader audience as well.