Mitt Romney Former Massachusetts Governor Iowa's Resume

[Donna Repub]

Mitt Romney

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR

Fast Facts

Mitt  Romney

• Date of Birth

  Mar 12, 1947

• Education

  Bachelor’s degree in English, 1971, Brigham Young University. Master’s of Business Administration and law degrees, 1975, Harvard University.

• Family

  Wife, Ann. Five adult sons.

• What you might not know

  Mitt is his middle name and comes from an uncle, Mitt Romney, who played professional football for the Chicago Bears in the 1920s.

• Website

  MittRomney.com

• Links

  SourceWatch OpenSecrets.org (fundraising)

• Elective Office

  Massachusetts governor, 2003-2007.

  • Other political highlights

    Ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate against Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994. Ran for Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Won the Iowa Republican straw poll in August 2007, but finished second in the caucuses.

  • Other career highlights

    In 1984, he founded Bain Capital, an investment company that helped launch or reshape hundreds of companies, including office-supply giant Staples and Domino’s Pizza. He earned tens of millions of dollars during his lucrative business career.

  • Key Iowa allies

    David Kochel, former Iowa Republican Party executive director, Des Moines

  • Fundraising

    His federal political action committee is called Free and Strong America PAC. In 2010, Romney raised more than $7 million, and he contributed a total of $1 million to candidates around the country, including more than $70,000 to Iowa candidates.

    By the most recent June 30 reporting date, Romney had raised $18,284,223.

  • Bibliography

    “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” St. Martin’s Press, 2010 “Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games,” Regnery Publishing Inc., 2004

  • Sources

    Free and Strong America PAC, Almanac of American Politics, Center for Responsive Politics

  • Others' views, at the starting gate (As of June 2011)

  • National Journal: Presidential Power Rankings

    Romney is emerging as a sturdier front-runner than many expected. … Romney’s raising big money (can he outraise the rest of the field?), he’s polling well, and he has unmatched organizational strength across the board.

    Rank: 1

    Chris Cillizza: The Fix blog, Washington Post

    “Romney remains the front-runner largely because no one has challenged him head-on … Serious ideological questions lurk just below the surface, sure to be exploited by Romney’s rivals.”

    Rank: 1

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  • October 2011: Romney’s chances of actually winning the Iowa caucuses are looking better all the time. He has held on to a solid and loyal base of support in Iowa, despite choosing to run an absentee campaign in the state for most of 2011.

    His standout performance in the fall debates and continued dominance in fundraising has bolstered the perception that he’s electable. That has helped smooth over some of the angst related to his Massachusetts health-care plan.

    If he matches his poll numbers in the caucuses, and the rest of the field remains splintered, he could eke out a caucus win with a vote percentage around 25 percent. Iowa Republican activists disagree about whether Romney would actually have to spend significant time campaigning here this fall in order to turn that theory into reality. His campaign is active on the ground, and he has the money to go on the air.

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    ROMNEY IS KNOWN FOR...

    • Romney ran a competitive campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential  nomination, emphasizing his credentials as a fiscal conservative. He  finished second in the Iowa caucuses and second in the New Hampshire  primary, having led in the polls in his neighboring state. He won the  Michigan primary, but withdrew from the race on Feb. 7.
    • As governor of Massachusetts, Romney in 2006 signed into law  landmark legislation expanding health insurance access to almost all  state residents. The law mandates purchase of health insurance and  subsidizes the cost for low-income individuals and families. The  legislation has been viewed as a signature policy achievement, but is  viewed with more skepticism heading into the race for the 2012  Republican presidential nomination. Its major components bear  similarities with the federal health reform passed under President  Barack Obama, which most Republicans in Congress opposed.
    • Also as governor, Romney cut spending, raised fees and closed tax  loopholes to eliminate a $1.2 billion budget deficit. He was able to cut  taxes by the fourth year of his one four-year term.
    • He undertook education reforms, including emphasis on math and  science instruction, English immersion for foreign-speaking students and  establishment of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program,  awarding the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with  four-year, tuition-free scholarships to any Massachusetts public  college.
    • He was tapped to take over preparation for the 2002 Winter  Olympics as president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and  won praise for turning around the once-troubled event.
    • His political path has followed the footsteps of his famous  father, George W. Romney, who was chairman of American Motors, governor  of Michigan and a candidate for president in 1968.
    • Romney is a third-generation Mormon. His membership in the Church  of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been a cause of concern for  some evangelicals, a powerful bloc in the Iowa Republican Party. A month  before the Iowa caucuses in 2008, he delivered a speech addressing his  religion in which he promised to “serve only the common cause of the  people of the United States.”
• http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/candidates/mitt-romney/

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