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Mitt Romney

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Xsadar (talk | contribs) at 01:10, 5 April 2007 (→‎Campaign for United States President, 2008 election: Romney is NOT the 3rd Mormon candidate. Joseph Smith also ran, there may also have been others.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Future election candidate

Mitt Romney
File:Mitt-romney.jpg
70th Governor of Massachusetts
In office
January 2, 2003 – January 4, 2007
LieutenantKerry Healey
Preceded byJane M. Swift (acting)
Succeeded byDeval Patrick
Personal details
Born (1947-03-12) March 12, 1947 (age 77)
Detroit, Michigan
Political partyRepublican
SpouseAnn Romney

Willard Mitt Romney (standard IPA pronunciation: 'wɪlɜd mɪt 'ɹɑmnɪ), usually known as Mitt (born March 12, 1947), was the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, elected in 2002. He served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term ended January 4, 2007.[1] Romney is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, having formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 2007. He made his announcement at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.[2]

Romney is a former CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and the co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. Romney is credited with rescuing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah from potential bankruptcy as the SLOC's CEO and organizer. In 1994, Romney led an unsuccessful Senate campaign against incumbent Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy.

Biography

Romney was born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. He is the son of former Michigan Governor, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, American Motors chairman, and Presidential candidate George W. Romney and unsuccessful 1970 US Senate candidate Lenore Romney, and a great great grandson of Latter-day Saint leader and apostle Parley P. Pratt.[3][4] He is a half second cousin of the animator Don Bluth.[5]

Romney married his high school sweetheart, Ann Davies in 1968. They have five sons (Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben, and Craig) and ten grandchildren. Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998.[6]

Romney has three siblings: Lynn, Jane, and G. Scott. He was named after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend,[7] and Milton Romney, a relative who played football for the Chicago Bears.[8] Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Early life and education

Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills (now Cranbrook Kingswood School). He met his future wife, Ann Davies, when she was at the Kingswood School.

After attending Stanford University for two quarters, Romney served in France for 30 months as a missionary for his church.[9] Upon returning from France he transferred to Brigham Young University, where he was valedictorian, earning his B.A. summa cum laude in 1971. In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint JD/MBA program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar. He graduated cum laude from the law school and in the top 5 percent of his business school class.[10]

Business career

After graduating from Harvard, Romney went to work for the Boston Consulting Group, where he had interned during the summer of 1974.[11] From 1978 to 1984, Romney was a vice president of Bain & Company, Inc., another Boston-based management consulting firm. In 1984, Romney left the company to co-found Bain Capital, which quickly became a highly successful private equity investment firm.[12]

In 1990 Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse. As CEO, Romney managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while increasing fiscal transparency. Within a year, he had led Bain & Company through a highly successful turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without layoffs or partner defections.[13]

Following his year at Bain & Company, Romney returned to Bain Capital. During the 14 years he headed the company, Bain Capital's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent.[13] During Romney's tenure, the firm founded, acquired or invested in hundreds of companies including Staples, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Brookstone, Domino's, Sealy Corporation and The Sports Authority.[14] Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee.

CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee

Romney served as president and CEO of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games held in Salt Lake City. In 1999 the event was running USD$379 million short of its revenue benchmarks. Plans were being made to scale back the games in order to compensate for the fiscal crisis. The Games were also damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials, including then Salt Lake Olympic Committee (SLOC) President and CEO Frank Joklik. Joklik and SLOC vice president Dave Johnson were forced to resign.[15]

On February 11, 1999 Romney was hired as the new president and CEO of the Salt Lake City Games.[16] Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets and boosted fundraising. He also worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by coordinating a $300 million security budget.[17] Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million. Following the conclusion of the Games, President George W. Bush praised Romney's management.[18]

Romney contributed $1 million to the Olympics, and donated the $825,000 salary he earned as President and CEO to charity.[19] He wrote a book about his experience called Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games. (ISBN 0895260840)

Massachusetts political campaigns

Campaign for United States Senate, 1994 election

In 1994, Romney won the Massachusetts Republican Party's nomination for U.S. Senate after defeating businessman John Lakian in the primary.[20] Some early polls showed Romney only slightly behind Senator Ted Kennedy. One Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994 primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error.[21] According to figures in The Almanac of American Politics 1996, which relies on official campaign finance reports, Romney spent over $7 million, with Kennedy spending over $10 million, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign. (This was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein vs. Michael Huffington Senate race in California.)[citation needed] Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent. The 17-percentage point winning margin was the smallest in Kennedy's nine election contests for the Senate through 2006.[22]

Campaign for Governor, 2002 election

Main article: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002

In 2002, Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift was expected to campaign for the governor's office. Swift had served as acting governor after Republican Governor Paul Cellucci resigned upon being appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Swift was viewed as an unpopular executive, and her administration was plagued by political missteps and personal scandals.[23] Many Republicans viewed her as a liability and considered her unable to win a general election against a Democrat.[24] Prominent GOP activists campaigned to persuade Romney to run for governor.[25] One poll taken at this time showed that Republicans favored Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points.[26] With growing speculation that Romney would challenge Swift in a bruising primary battle, Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination.

Massachusetts Democratic Party officials claimed that Romney was ineligible to run for governor, citing residency issues. The Massachusetts Constitution requires seven consecutive years of residency prior to a run for office. Romney claimed residency in Utah from 1999 to 2002, during his time as president of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee. In 1999 he listed himself as a part-time Massachusetts resident.[27] The Massachusetts Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission, which eventually ruled that Romney was eligible to run for office. The ruling was not challenged in court.[28]

During the general election Romney ran on a reform platform; a major issue in the election was the state budget crisis. Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially his success with the 2002 Olympics, as that of one who would be able to bring in a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics.[29] Romney contributed $6.3 million to his own campaign during the election, at the time a state record.[30] Romney was elected Governor in November 2002 with 50 percent of the vote over Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien, who received 45 percent.[31]

Governor of Massachusetts, 2003–2007

Main article: Governorship of Mitt Romney

Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003, along with Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. Romney received widespread praise for personally declining to be compensated for his services as governor.[citation needed] Romney served one term. On December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor, fueling speculation about a run for the White House in 2008.[32] Healey became the Republican nominee for the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial race and subsequently lost to Democrat Deval Patrick. Romney's term ended January 4, 2007. Romney filed papers to establish a formal exploratory presidential campaign committee the next to last day in office as governor.[33]

Campaign for United States President, 2008 election

Main article: Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2008

Following in the footsteps of his father in 1968 and Orrin Hatch in 2000, Romney is one of the first Mormon candidates for president in a race notable for the diversity of prominent contenders for the ticket.[34] Since his appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention, Romney had been discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate.[35] On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission.[36][37] On February 13, 2007 Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. On March 3, 2007 Mitt Romney won the (CPAC) Conservative Political Action Conference Straw Poll. He received 21% of the vote. Rudy Giuliani received 17%, and Senator John McCain received 12%. 1,705 attendees voted.[38] On April 2, 2007, Romney for President announced it had raised $23 million during the first 3 months of 2007 -- ahead of his GOP contenders, but behind Sentor Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) $26 million. [39] [40]

Positions on political issues

Main article: Political views of Mitt Romney

During his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts, Romney has maintained a relatively conservative political philosophy. He describes himself as pro-life, despite having said in 1994 that he supported abortion rights after a relative died from an unsafe abortion.[41] In a March 15, 2007 interview with Larry King, Romney explained that while governor he adapted his political position on abortion when the idea of cloning human embryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells became an issue of debate in his state.[42] He supports the death penalty, charter schools, and sentencing under the three strikes law. He opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions, and has renounced his support for domestic partnership benefits.

Electoral history

  • 2002 Race for Governor, Massachusetts
  • 1994 Race for U.S. Senate, Massachusetts
    • Edward Kennedy (D) (incumbent), 58%
    • Mitt Romney (R), 41%
    • Lauraleigh Dozier (L), 0.7%
    • William Ferguson, 0.2%

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Phillips, Frank and Helman, Scott. "It's 1 term for Romney; he says 'future is open'" The Boston Globe, December 15, 2005), retrieved October 28, 2006.
  2. ^ Romney formally announces run for president Boston Globe, February 13, 2007
  3. ^ Associated Press, Romney Family Tree Has Polygamy Branch
  4. ^ Outside the Beltway, AP Smears Romney With 155-Year-Old Family History
  5. ^ Ancestry of Mitt Romney
  6. ^ "The woman behind the man in charge of the Salt Lake Games" Cable News Network Interview transcript of February 11, 2002 08:04; retrieved October 28, 2006.
  7. ^ Wheaton, Sarah. "Romney Appeals to Core Audience." The New York Times, 28 January 2007.
  8. ^ AP. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061124/POLITICS/611240358/1022, November 24, 2006, retrieved December 25, 2006.
  9. ^ Miller, John J. "Matinee Mitt." National Review, June 20 2005.-
  10. ^ AP. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061124/POLITICS/611240358/1022, November 24, 2006, retrieved December 25, 2006.
  11. ^ Lewis, Raphael and Helman, Scott. "Romney Cultivating Jewish Ties" Boston Globe, November 8 2005, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  12. ^ Pappu, Sridhar. "The Holy Cow! Candidate", The Atlantic Monthly, September 2005, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  13. ^ a b Rees, Matthew. "Mister PowerPoint Goes to Washington" The American, December 1, 2006, retrieved December 16, 2006.
  14. ^ Massgov document
  15. ^ "Salt Lake Olympics rocked by resignations, evidence of payments" CNN.com, January 8, 1999, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  16. ^ Call, Jeff "'The Fire Within" BYU Magazine, Winter 2002, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  17. ^ Rice, Lewis. "Games Saver" Harvard Law Bulletin, Spring 2002, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  18. ^ Bush, George W. "President Congratulates Olympic and Paralympic Athletes: Remarks by the President to the Olympians and Paralympians" whitehouse.gov, Office of the Press Secretary, April 23, 2002, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  19. ^ Eastland, Terry "In 2008, Will It Be Mormon in America?" The Weekly Standard June 6, 2005, retrieved October 28, 2006.
  20. ^ Gizzi, John "Romney and Rebellion" Human Events Publishing, May 17, 2004; retrieved October 29, 2004
  21. ^ Gordon, Al. "Kennedy in Fight Of His Political Life" Newsday (Nassau and Suffolk edition), pg. A04, October 2, 1994; retrieved October 29, 2006.
  22. ^ Taranto, James. [http:/www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007755 "Latter-day President?: A Mitt Romney candidacy would test the religious right"] The Wall Street Journal Saturday, December 31, 2005; retrieved October 29, 2006.
  23. ^ Associated Press. "Massachusetts's first female governor takes office, under heavy statewide scrutiny" The Daily Texan, April 11, 2001; retrieved October 29, 2006.
  24. ^ Frank, Mitch. "Jane Swift Takes One For the Team:The Massachusetts GOP took a risk by choosing Mitt Romney over the more progressive Swift. Will their decision come back to haunt them?" Time Magazine, Mar. 21, 2002; retrieved Octover 29, 2006.
  25. ^ Berwick Jr, Bob and Roch, Lisa Riley. "Boston GOP beseeching Mitt: But hero of S.L. Games is coy about his future" Deseret News, February 22, 2002; retrieved November 1, 2006.
  26. ^ "Swift exits, Romney joins Mass. governor's race" Cable News Network, March 19, 2002; retrieved October 30, 2006.
  27. ^ Mcelhenny, John (Associated Press) "Romney defends right to run for governor" Portsmouth Herald", Tuesday, June 18, 2002, retrieved November 1, 2006.
  28. ^ Belluck, Pam. "Massachusetts Ballot Panel Allows Race By Republican" New York Times (Abstract) (Page A-17, Col. 4), June 26, 2002, retrieved Nombermber 1, 2006.
  29. ^ "Vote 2002: Massachusetts Governor's Race" PBS Online News Hour (No Date); retrieved November 1, 2006.
  30. ^ "Gabrieli surpasses spending record" Brian C. Mooney Boston Globe; August 22, 2006, Retreived November 20, 2006.
  31. ^ "2002 Election Results, Govornor" 'CNN.com; retrieved November 1, 2006.
  32. ^ Phillips, Frank (2005-12-14). "Romney to announce he won't seek re-election". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  33. ^ Estes, Andrea; and Helman, Scott. Romney exits with pomp, ambition: Ends term, takes 1st formal step for White House bid Boston Globe. January 4, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  34. ^ Nagourney, Adam and Laurie Goodstein Mormon Candidate Braces for Religion as Issue New York Times February 2, 2007; retrieved March 4, 2007
  35. ^ Bradley, Nina "Is Romney ready for the big time?: Mass. Gov. gets plum prime-time speaking spot during convention MSNBC, August 29, 2004; retrieved October 29, 2006
  36. ^ Cite error: The named reference 010307-FiledwithFEC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  37. ^ Romney Takes Step Toward an ’08 Run New York Times, January 4, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2007.
  38. ^ cpac.org
  39. ^ Romney for President Reports $23 Million In Total Receipts For The First Quarter "Romney for President" April 2, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  40. ^ Giuliani posts $15 million for presidential campaign, McCain raises $12.5 million in first quarter, Edwards campaign raises $14 million, Clinton raises $26 million for presidential bid "CNN News" April 2, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
  41. ^ http://www.ontheissues.org/Mitt_Romney.htm
  42. ^ Larry King Live, March 15, 2007[1]

External links

Official

Speeches: Multimedia and transcripts

Interviews

Databases and Information

Articles about Mitt Romney

Political offices
Preceded by Massachusetts Republican Party gubernatorial candidate
2002 (won) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Jane Swift
(as Acting Governor)
 Governor of Massachusetts
January 2, 2003–January 4, 2007 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mitt_Romney&oldid=120378708"