The response seemed to defy the rough-and-tumble rules of modern politics. One of the nation’s most prominent opponents of same-sex marriage, Maggie Gallagher, had just told aides to Mitt Romney that she was endorsing Rick Santorum, a favorite of social conservatives, and encouraging her supporters to do the same. 
Peter G. Flaherty, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney's campaign, generally avoids the scrum surrounding the candidate. Born Sept. 20, 1965,
Education College of the Holy Cross, B.A., economics, 1987;
Career Assistant district attorney, homicide unit,
Campaigns Deputy campaign manager, Romney for President, 2008; senior adviser, Romney for President, 2012
Boards New England School of Law; St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center; Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County
Family Married to Jennifer, 1994; children: Peter, William and Matthew
A one-stop destination for the latest political news — from The Times and other top sources. Plus opinion, polls, campaign data and video.So what did the Romney camp do? A few hours later, it invited her to send over a copy of her forthcoming book, for which Mr. Romney, it suggested, might provide a flattering blurb. “It was,” Ms. Gallagher recalled, “extremely unusual and gracious.” The gesture, which caught her off guard and earned her admiration, was the deft diplomatic handiwork of Mr. Romney’s unseen but crucial weapon this campaign season: his liaison to the Republican Party’s right wing, Peter G. Flaherty, a former homicide prosecutor who keeps a statue of the Virgin Mary on his desk. As Mr. Romney confronts the rise of Mr. Santorum, whom polls now show running even with him nationally, Mr. Flaherty, a Catholic, has been handed an urgent and tricky task — winning over social and religious conservatives who remain suspicious of the candidate’s ideological commitment and wary of his Mormon faith. As his experience with Ms. Gallagher suggests, Mr. Flaherty is not always successful, but he is reliably resourceful. It was Mr. Flaherty who organized a confidential meeting between Mr. Romney and dozens of conservative leaders in Washington last week. It was Mr. Flaherty who persuaded five former ambassadors to the Vatican to publicly back Mr. Romney over his Catholic rivals, Mr. Santorum and Newt Gingrich, before the New Hampshire primary. And it is Mr. Flaherty who has coached Mr. Romney on how to defend his position on fraught issues like abortion during debates, according to campaign colleagues and conservative leaders. In a field that churns out hard-charging operatives, Mr. Flaherty, 46, is something of an anomaly, described by those he has courted as disarmingly mild-mannered, soft-spoken and philosophical. But they know him, too, as a man of deep feeling, propelled into the law by the murder of an aunt at a Boston church, where he returned to pray during jury deliberations as a prosecutor. He tends to begin conversations with an update on his three sons and two brothers, whom he speaks to several times a day. He deliberately avoids the hard sell, to the point where some conservatives say the Romney campaign has not been aggressive enough. Mr. Flaherty is known to tell skeptical evangelical leaders and reluctant conservative luminaries backing rival candidates that he can live with being their second choice in the nomination contest. “Keep us in mind,” is a common Flaherty refrain, said those who have spoken with him, followed by this: “Our door is always open.” That style has earned him a deep reservoir of good will, even among those who disapprove of Mr. Romney. Several conservatives said he is the only campaign official they will work with. His highly personal approach has paid dividends. As 150 Christian conservative leaders prepared to meet in Texas a few weeks ago to discuss ways to block Mr. Romney’s path to the nomination, one of the attendees, Gary L. Bauer, felt compelled to call Mr. Flaherty and offer a personal assurance: he would not allow the meeting to dissolve into a Romney bashing session. “My advice to Governor Romney,” Mr. Bauer said, “is to listen to Peter more.” Gary Marx, the executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, described the Flaherty Doctrine this way: “You disarm your opponents and dampen their desire to rally an army of opposition.” In New Hampshire, Mr. Flaherty spent weeks pursuing Maureen C. Mooney, a former state lawmaker and an influential activist in the Catholic community, who had backed John McCain in the 2008 Republican primary. He arranged for Mr. Romney to meet with her, sent her samplings of the candidate’s writings on religious liberty and, during an hourlong telephone conversation, assured her, Ms. Mooney recalled, that Mr. Romney would select a running mate who shared his conservative views on social issues. Soon after, Ms. Mooney endorsed Mr. Romney. “He was very persuasive,” she said of Mr. Flaherty, adding: “Nobody devoted that much time to me.” 