"He used code words, if you will, that made the point: 'Hey, I get your message,' " said Harry Jackson Jr., senior pastor of a black evangelical mega-church outside Washington.
Jackson also was pleased to hear Romney speak so emotionally about the importance of faith in his life.
"Sometimes you can get the feeling that [he's a] used-car salesman instead of someone with a heart. He made himself more touchable, more approachable, with this speech," said Jackson, who has not committed to a candidate.
But for all his admiration, Jackson said he was not sure the speech would give Romney much of a bounce in the polls. Other religious leaders and political analysts agreed.
Few voters, they said, truly worried that Romney would take orders from Salt Lake City if elected -- that he'd "pick up the phone and call some 90-year-old Mormon elder to ask what to do on immigration," said Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.
The concerns about his faith are vaguer -- but may run far deeper.
Some Christians are appalled at the Mormon conception of God as having a physical body and a wife. In their view, Mormons don't worship the one true God -- so they fear that, as president, Romney would not benefit from divine guidance.
At a Huckabee campaign event a few weeks ago, voter Glenda Gehrke, 63, voiced that concern about Romney, asking: "Will his prayers even get through?"
Others consider Mormonism a cult and worry that a Mormon president would give the fast-growing faith more legitimacy in the U.S. and around the world.
A poll last month by NBC and the Wall Street Journal found that 50% of voters surveyed weren't ready to elect a Mormon president -- about double the number who said they were not prepared to elect a woman or an African American.
Other national polls have found similar skepticism about electing a Mormon president, though when a recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll asked about Romney in particular, 73% of Republican voters said his faith would make no difference in their decision.
Romney did not explain any details of Mormon theology (and used the word "Mormon" only once in his 20-minute speech). He also did not take questions from the audience of 300 invited guests.
That lack of specificity disappointed Iowa voter Dan Nicholson, who has not yet settled on a candidate.
