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Mitt Romney appears on the cover of this week's PARADE magazine with his wife, Ann, in jeans next to the headline "A Mitt Romney you haven't seen yet." It's a title that probably has Democrats and his Republican opponents smirking a little bit, after they have accused him of switching positions on a range of issues.

PARADE's interview — included in Sunday's paper — touches on premarital sex and his enormous wealth.

Romney, a Mormon, says religious restrictions on activity like the ban on drinking or sex before marriage "are not so much restricting as liberating."

He also notes that past leaders like FDR and Jack Kennedy were well off too and he gives an answer that might catch the attention of some of the Occupy protesters.

"In the U.S., the very poor are provided a safety net, which must be maintained. The very rich are doing fine. The middle class is suffering," he said. "It is for the great majority of Americans, the 90 percent in the middle, that I'm running for president."

He didn't make it up to 99 percent, but he got close.

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Huntsman gets another look • From the get-go, the right wing wasn't exactly enamored with Jon Huntsman's presidential campaign. But after the meltdowns of Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain, and the self-destruction and unexpected resurgence of Newt Gingrich, some of those conservatives are giving Utah's former governor another look.

Case in point: Erick Erickson.

The prominent commentator behind Redstate.com once wrote a blog item titled "Why I will not support Jon Huntsman," (essentially labeling him too moderate and too close to President Barack Obama).

But in his latest look at the race, he was much more complimentary.

"His record as a governor is more conservative than Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney combined. He is more pro-life than either of them," Erickson said. "Huntsman should be a conservative hero in this race."

That's a quote the Huntsman campaign made sure reporters saw. The one they didn't pass along is this ...

"I have also come to conclude that if the Huntsman campaign has anything to do with it, you will never ever know how conservative his record and economic vision actually are and he will lose as a result."

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Lee on the defense • Sen. Mike Lee cast a vote that would make most Republican political consultants gasp. He voted against the Defense Authorization Act this week, a bill that passed 93 to 7, and of the seven only three were Republicans.

Lee's opposition stems from the failure of an amendment that would prohibit the military from indefinitely detaining American citizens believed to be working with terrorist organization. Lee, a lawyer by trade, said those suspected of such crimes should be brought before a trial of their peers and provided an attorney, as the Constitution requires.

"Honoring my oath to uphold the Constitution means more than doing what the Supreme Court allows," said Lee, a former Supreme Court clerk.

It was a position that all but two of his Republican colleagues rejected.

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Burr and Canham report from Washington, D.C. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib.com or mcanham@sltrib.com or via Twitter @thomaswburr or @mattcanham.