Mitt Romney is 64 (born in 1947).
He and his family have been Mormons for generations.
Newt Gingrich is 68 (born in 1943).
He was raised Lutheran.
He converted to the Baptist faith in 1970.
He converted to Catholicism in 2009.
Mitt Romney was born Willard Mitt Romney in Detroit, MI.
Newt Gingrich was born Newton Leroy McPherson in Harrisburg, PA (I always wondered why he doesn't have a Southern accent).
His step dad, Robert Gingrich adopted him in infancy.
Romney holds a BA from Brigham Young University, and an MBA and a JD from Harvard University.
Gingrich holds a BA from Emory University, and an MA and PhD from Tulane University. All 3 degrees are in history - the latter two in modern European history. His dissertation was on "Belgian Education Policy in the Congo: 1945–1960".
Romney took student and missionary deferments from the Vietnam War and in '69 was not drafted because his lottery number was too high (300). He supported the war, but his father did not.
Gingrich took student and father deferments from the war. He later said that he regretted having done so.
Gingrich became interested in politics after a high school visit to the World War I battlefield at Verdun in Orleans, France. From that visit he learned about the importance of political leadership.
Mitt Romney looked up to his father, George Romney who was a leader in their church, a CEO/Chairman of American Motors, which he helped turn around, and a popular 3 term Governor of the state of Michigan.
George Romney was initially the front runner for the GOP presidential nomination in '68.
George was born in Colonia Dublán, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico because the US Government hounded his parents out of the US for their polygamy & Mormonism. His place of birth does not appear to have been an issue in the '68 campaign.
In 1968 while a student at Tulane, Gingrich was the southern regional field director for Nelson Rockefeller's unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination.
In 1968 Romney was on a Mormon mission in France. This was one of the few periods in Romney's life where he met with little success as few Frenchmen were willing to convert the t-totaling life style of a Mormon.
While driving in France, Romney was involved in an accident (which was not his fault) that claimed the life of a passenger in his car.
Romney's first bid for political office was for US Senator from Massachusetts in 1994 when he lost to incumbent, Ted Kennedy. In 2002 he ran for the Governorship of Massachusetts and won. He did not seek re-election. This is his second run at the presidency.
Gingrich first ran in 1974 for a seat in the US House of Representatives from the 6th district of Georgia. He lost to 20-year incumbent Democrat Jack Flynt by 2,770 votes, and lost again in 1976, but in 1978, Flynt retired and Gingrich won.
Gingrich held the seat for 20 years, rising first to House Minority Whip ('89-'95) then House Speaker ('95-'99).
This is Gingrich's first full run at the presidency (he consider a run in 2008, but decided against it).
When not in office, Romney has been mostly a business man.
When not in office, Gingrich has been mostly a college professor.
I started out wanting to look at why/how the party of the Moral Majority/Christian Coalition has come to have two non Protestants as their front runners in this election. While the subject of the GOP & its ever changing relationship with religion still fascinates me, I found myself pulled away from that toward a look at these two very different men.