The campaign paid the privately owned Mormon-themed magazine to send out an e-mail to its subscribers designed to appear as though it came from the campaign itself. The message invited recipients to a rally in Salt Lake City later this month. It included a line at the end saying that "You are currently subscribed to [the] Romney for President" e-mail list.

LDS Living has a cross promotional deal with LDS Church-owned Deseret Book but is not owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While Romney has held fundraisers in heavily Mormon areas, the LDS Living e-mail may mark the most overt attempt by Romney to seek financial support from members of his religion.

"This signals, if this is what he's done, that he's willing to be more aggressive and appealing to this kind of natural group for him," says Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

Most candidates reach out to their bases - be it social, religious, political or business, Zelizer says. Romney's Mormon faith may be a hindrance to his campaign - mainly because many evangelicals do not consider Mormons true Christians - but the sheer number of Mormons across the nation also can be a powerful base for raising funds.

"I'm sure there are efforts to target other groups" as well, Zelizer notes.

Utah was Romney's second-biggest fundraising state in the first half of the year, raking in $3.8 million, behind only California's $5.3 million. Campaign aides have said that's because of Romney's leadership of the 2002 Winter Olympics, not religious ties.

"Utah would naturally be a base of support for Governor Romney, since it was the location for one of his greatest accomplishments, having turned the Salt Lake City Olympic Games of 2002 into a magnificent success for the state of Utah and the nation as a whole," Romney's spokesman Kevin Madden said after the first campaign report was filed.

Tuesday, Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said that political campaigns routinely buy or use e-mail lists to introduce a candidate or solicit support. The Romney campaign recently used a series of lists - including through LDS Living - to promote events in more than 20 states near the end of the month.

"The campaign rented a list from LDS Living magazine at fair market value to promote the Rally for Romney event on September 28 in Salt Lake City," Gitcho said. "This was an effort to reach out to Utah voters."

tburr@sltrib.com