Mitt Romney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

     Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. The son of former Michigan Governor George Romney, Romney founded the investment firm Bain Capital. He ran for the Massachusetts Senate in 1994, but was defeated by incumbent Edward Kennedy. Romney took over the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and helmed a successful 2002 Olympic Games. He was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2003 and made a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008,

 

Quotes

"... The American people are the greatest people in the world. What makes America the greatest nation in the world is the heart of the American people: hardworking, innovative, risk-taking, God-loving, family oriented American people."

– Mitt Romney

"I feel very deeply about the need to respect and tolerate people of different social, or sexual, orientation. But at the same time, I believe marriage should be preserved as an institution for one man and one woman."

– Mitt Romney

 

but lost to John McCain. In June 2011, Romney announced his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination and by May 2012, he had become the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. In August 2012, Romney announced U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. Later that month, Romney was officially named the Republican Party's nominee for president.

Early Life

     Born Willard Mitt Romney on March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Mitt Romney attended the prestigious Cranbrook School before receiving his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in 1971. He attended Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, and received both a law degree and a Master of Business Administration degree in 1975.
Romney married Ann Davies in 1969; they have five sons, Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig. Mitt and Ann Romney are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. Their openness about their faith brought Mormonism into the national spotlight, and created unique media attention for the Romneys and other famous Mormons.

Entry into Politics

     The son of George Romney, a former governor of Michigan, who ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 1968 (he was defeated by Richard Nixon), Mitt Romney began his career in business. He worked for the management consulting firm Bain & Company before founding the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984. A decade later, in 1994, he ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, but was defeated by longtime incumbent Ted Kennedy.
Romney stepped into the national spotlight in 1999, when he took over as president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. He helped rescue the 2002 Winter Olympics from financial and ethical woes, and helmed a successful Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002.
In 2004, Romney authored the book Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games.

Massachusetts Governor

     Romney parlayed his success with the Olympics into politics when he was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2003. During Romney's term as governor, he oversaw the reduction of a $3 billion deficit. He also signed into law a health-care reform program to provide nearly universal health care for Massachusetts residents.

2008 Presidential Run

     After serving one term, Romney declined to run for re-election and announced his bid for U.S. President. Romney made it through Super Tuesday, winning primaries in Massachusetts, Alaska, Minnesota, Colorado and Utah, before losing the Republican nomination to U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona. In total, Romney spent $110 million on his campaign, including $45 million of his own money.
Romney continued to keep his options open for a possible future presidential run. He maintained much of his political staff and political action committees, and raised funds for fellow Republican candidates. In March 2010, Romney published the book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, which debuted on The New York Times' best-seller list.

2012 Campaign

     At a farm in New Hampshire on June 2, 2011, Mitt Romney announced the official start of his 2012 campaign. A vocal critic of President Barack Obama, Romney has taken many standard Republican positions on taxes, the economy and the war on terror. Romney's critics charge him with changing his position on several key issues including abortion, which he opposes, and health care reform—he opposed President Obama's health care reform program, which was similar to the Massachusetts plan Romney supported as governor.
     From the start of his campaign, Romney emerged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination. He showed more mainstream Republican appeal than Tea Party-backed competitors such as Texas governor Rick Perry. In January 2012, Romney scored a decisive victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary. He captured more than 39 percent of votes, way ahead of his competitors, including Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman. As the race has continued, Rick Santorum became his greatest competition, winning several states. But Romney secured a substantial lead in the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
     In April 2012, Romney benefitted from a narrowing of the field when Santorum announced he was suspending his campaign. He publicly paid tribute to his former rival, saying that Santorum "has proved himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation." After Santorum's departure, Romney only had two opponents left—Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. Gingrich threw in the towel that May.
     With the Republican nomination practically his, Romney and President Barack Obama ended up in a war of words in July 2012. Obama's campaign ran ads claiming that Romney was the head of Bain Capital until 2001, not until 1999, as he had previously stated. Around the same time, news reports began circulating regarding economy-stifling practices by Bain Capital; according to the reports, Romney's company had invested in several businesses that specialized in relocating jobs overseas. The reports, along with Obama's ads, were huge blows to the Romney campaign. But Romney's campaign fired back with its own political ads, claiming that Obama was more interested in helping his  donors than looking out for the American people. This was only the beginning of the slinging of barbs and arrows between the two candidates.
Later in July, Romney garnered negative attention while attending the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London: While there, Romney stated in a interview with NBC that London's preparations for the Games were somewhat "disconcerting." London citizens and viewers worldwide were outraged by Romney's remarks. According to The Guardian, in the hours after the NBC interview was broadcast, David Cameron rebuked Romney's remarks, saying, "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities in the world. Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."
     In response to the criticism, Romney later retracted, stating, "I am very delighted with the prospects of a highly successful Olympic Games. What I have seen shows imagination and forethought and a lot of organisation and [I] expect the Games to be highly successful," according to The Guardian.
     Criticism surrounding his Games remark began to wane in early August 2012, when Romney announced 42-year-old U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate for vice president. Ryan, a fiscal conservative, chairs the House of Representatives Budget Committee. Directly following the announcement, which ended months-long coverage of potential vice-presidential candidates for 2012, media attention surrounding Romney's campaign heavily focused on Ryan.
     On August 28, 2012, Romney became the Republican Party's official presidential nominee, receiving 2,061 delegate votes—nearly double the required 1,144—on the first day of the 2012 Republican National Convention, held in Tampa, Florida. During the convention, election candidates Romney and Ryan received support from several fellow Republican politicians, including Romney's competitor in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, John McCain. "For four years, we have drifted away," McCain said on the second day of the convention, according to the Los Angeles Times. "People don't want less of America, they want more. What they want to know is, whether we still have faith ... Mitt Romney has that faith, and I trust him to lead us."