Reid, the top elected Mormon in the Democratic Party, says the country is not ready for fellow Mormon Romney to be the Republicans' presidential nominee.
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, left, says former Massachusetts Gov. W. Mitt Romney, right, a fellow Mormon, "doesn't know who he is."WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top elected Mormon in the Democratic Party, says the country is not ready for fellow Mormon Mitt Romney to be the Republicans' presidential nominee.
"Here's a man who doesn't know who he is," Reid told reporters Tuesday, citing Romney's changed positions on some issues. "If someone doesn't know who they are, they shouldn't be president of the United States."
A Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, said in response to the senator's comments that the Romney campaign wasn't seeking a Reid endorsement, "nor is it one we would accept."
Reid pointed to three issues on which he argued that Romney has shifted positions: gay marriage, abortion and health care.
However, the Senate majority leader misstated Romney's support of gay marriage, saying the Republican backed gay marriage as governor of Massachusetts. In fact, Romney did not, although Romney did say during his unsuccessful 1994 Senate race that he would be stronger on gay rights than his opponent, Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Reid also said Romney "was for abortion" as governor and was now against it. Romney did indeed back away from his support of abortion rights as a gubernatorial candidate and now opposes abortion.
As for health care, Reid said President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law last year was modeled "to a large degree about what he (Romney) did in Massachusetts. Now, he's trying to run from that."
Romney has said that his statewide health care initiative, which included requiring that people have health insurance, wasn't meant to be undertaken on a national level and not in the form of the new federal health care law.
Reid had kinder words for another fellow Mormon, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination on Tuesday.
"In that race, if I had a choice, I would favor Huntsman over Romney," Reid said. "But I don't have a choice in that race."