LITTLE ROCK — As a Republican-leaning lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jim Griffin, 66, is watching the rise of presidential candidate Mitt Romney with pride and wonder.

“I am excited as a kid on Christmas morning. ... I’m just exuberant about it,” he said Friday morning.

The retired doctor and volunteer high school seminary teacher will be fixed to his television this week as Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and fellow Mormon, accepts the Republican presidential nomination in Tampa, Fla.

In Arkadelphia, a lawyer and Latter-day Saint named Alan LeVar also will be watching Romney’s acceptance speech, a bit more dispassionately.

LeVar, 44, is a Barack Obama voter and a former president of the College Democrats at Brigham Young University — the church’s flagship school in Provo, Utah.

But, he says, Romney’s trailblazing candidacy has earned respect that stretches across party lines in the Mormon community.

“Even the Democrats I know are pleased at how well he’s doing, even though they’re not going to vote for him,” LeVar said. “Most Mor- mons I speak to have a pretty healthy level of respect for him personally.”

The church itself is taking no part in the Nov. 6 contest, stressing its long-standing “policy of strict political neutrality.”

Partisan activities are prohibited in temples and meetinghouses.

The highest-ranking fulltime Mormon ecclesiastical leaders were instructed in a June 16, 2011, letter from the church’s First Presidency to stay neutral. Top church leaders and their spouses should not “personally participate in political campaigns, including promoting candidates, fundraising, speaking in behalf of or otherwise endorsing candidates, and making financial contributions,” the letter states.

All Mormons, as always, were encouraged to vote.

There are 6.2 million Mormons in the United States, including 1.9 million in Utah, where the church has its worldwide headquarters.

And in that predominantly Mormon state, the candidate of choice is clearly Romney, a former missionary to France, Brigham Young University alumnus, bishop, businessman and savior of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Romney claimed 90 percent of the vote in Utah’s 2008 Republican presidential primary. In 2012, he grabbed 93 percent.

Russell Arben Fox, a former Arkansas State University political science professor who now teaches in Kansas, predicts that nearly 90 percent of the Mormons in his town will vote for the Republican standard-bearer.

“We’re proud of all Mormons who do well, and of course we’re proud of Mitt Romney,” Fox said.

But because Mormons, as a whole, are already conservative-leaning and heavily Republican, their lopsided support won’t give Romney much of an Election Day edge, Fox said.

And while most Latterday Saints are applauding Romney and enjoying what’s been called “the Mormon moment,” the worldwide publicity could have unforeseen consequences — especially if Romney wins.

Because the church is a global body with 14.4 million members, some Mormons “fear that the election of Mitt Romney could be divisive and polarizing and damaging to the ability of the church to be the church, and not a white Republican American organization,” Fox said.

Other Mormons say the international attention gives Mormons a chance to clear up misconceptions about their faith.

“From the church point of view, it’s pretty awesome,” said Ron Record, 56, a Mormon missionary to Arkansas in the 1970s who now lives in La Quinta, Calif. “There’s so many false rumors out there about our church. It’s unbelievable. And this can help our church as far as publicity — there’s no doubt.”

Little Rock attorney Brianne Franks, a 26-year-old Mormon, also is enjoying Romney’s time in the spotlight.

“It’s exciting in a way,” she said. “It just means we’re becoming more mainstream.” But that doesn’t mean Romney can take her vote for granted. “I don’t believe in voting for a person just because of their religion,” Franks said. For now, Franks said, she’s still undecided. “There’s a couple more months, and stuff can still happen,” she said. “I still want to hear more policies and more ideas from both sides.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/26/2012