Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney was born on March 14th, 1947, the son of former Michigan governor George Romney. His father was a candidate for the presidency in 1968, while his mother, Lenore Romney, ran for the US Senate in 1970. After taking some time off during college to perform missionary work for the Mormon Church, Romney graduated from Brigham Young University in 1971 as class valedictorian. He went to Harvard where, in 1975, he graduated from both the Law School and Business School with a Law degree and an MBA.

After graduation, Mitt Romney remained in Boston and worked in investments before joining management consulting firm Bain and Company. In 1984, he left to found investment spin-off Bain Capital. After Bain and Company experienced financial difficulty, Romney returned as CEO to Bain and Company in 1990, saved it, and turned it around. He ran for the Senate in 1994 against powerful incumbent Ted Kennedy and lost, but made a stronger than expected showing.

In 1998, Romney took over as head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee, inheriting a $379 million shortfall and an organization racked by scandal. By the time the games were over, the shortfall had turned into a $100 million profit and the games were hailed a success. Flush from his accomplishment, Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts and won. Again, Romney found himself entering his new job with a shortfall- $1.2 million. By enacting spending cuts, raising fees, and closing corporate tax loopholes, by the end of his term in 2006 the state was operating with a $700 million surplus. Some of the cuts were very controversial: cuts to city and town aid and reductions in contributions to stat- run colleges, which caused the schools to raise tuitions by 63% to make up for the loss. He enacted private, market-based health reform in Massachusetts, mandating all residents to have health insurance. Even though Romney was economically successful during his governorship, he did not have strong support in the polls in his state by the end of his term. He declined to run for a second term, instead turning his attention to the national stage.

In 2007, Mitt Romney announced his run for the Republican nomination for president. His platform was conservative; pro-life, in favor of legal immigration and tax relief for middle income Americans. He supported expanded military spending and an increase in troops overseas. He differed from his party in that he has been a strong proponent for gun control. After showing well in some of the early primaries, Romney dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday. He made way for John McCain to take the nomination and gave his active support to McCain s bid.

Romney is commonly listed, along with Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, as a current front runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. He has encouraged this talk through his holding on to his staff and network of supporters and by keeping his PAC money to pay current staff . He continues to be active through his PAC, Free and Strong America, which supports like-minded Republican candidates, and through speeches and op-ed pieces.