Rebulican Mitt Romney AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
As we get closer and closer to the mid-term election of 2010, we start to get a clearer picture of who will oppose President Obama for the White House in 2012. One thing we learned from the elections of 2008 is it is never too early to start running.
For a lot of reasons Mitt Romney is the early front runner for the GOP party. The most important of these reasons is he does not have a day job at the moment so he can focus himself on being out in the public eye criticizing Obama policies and he builds up his campaign infrastructure.
Before we get into all of that let us take a look at Romney’s details:
Age-62
Family-Married with five children
Religion- Church of Jesus Christ and Latter day Saints
Education- BYU, Harvard
Politics-Conservative Moderate
Experience- Governor of Massachusetts
CEO Bain and Company Management Consulting Firm
Co Founder Bain Capital a private equity firm
CEO 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games
Past Campaign notes:
• 2008 finished third among GOP primary campaigners behind John McCain and Mike Huckabee.
• 2002 Won Governorship of Massachusetts
• 1994 Tried to join the Newt Gingrich Revolution but lost Senate campaign to Ted Kennedy
Analysis: As previously reported by various media outlets, Obama and his team look to define the GOP in 2012 by its Deep South roots. However Romney might be the ideal candidate to counter act such a strategy a Romney wasn’t very popular among GOP voters of the south. Romney did however do well in the traditional Conservative states of the west. He came in second in the Iowa Caucus, first in Wyoming, and first in Nevada primaries.
Since Mitt is the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney he can carry the state in the primaries and make Michigan competitive in a general election.
We can see that the Obama administration is looking to rid itself of GOP contenders in the North East; this is one of Romney’s strongest regions of support. He won the Maine GOP primary came in second in New Hampshire and 2nd in Florida. For the purposes of politics Florida is more a east state than it is a southern state.
Romney has an impressive personal fortune and has been willing to dip into in the past to keep his campaign going. In 2008 Romney pitched in 35 million dollars of his own money and was bale to raise some 65 million more. This tells us that he has the money and the support to make another strong run at the GOP nomination.
The biggest minus on Romney is his religion. Being a Mormon is something a lot of people don’t quite understand. Romney would be the first Mormon president but his church is something the general public largely doesn’t understand. He also has supported different forms of gun control that have made him unpopular with the NRA faction of his party.
On top of that Romney has been a supporter of Gay Right and while not gay marriage he does support Civil Unions. While this makes him an attractive candidate to moderate conservatives there is a large growing movement to take the Republican Party farther to the right.
Other Potential 2009 GOP Presidential Candidates:
Comments
To say that Romney finished third it 2008 behind Mike Huckabee is technically true but doesn't tell the whole picture. Romney like the other '08 contenders dropped out of the race once it became apparent that John McCain had the numbers to be the nominee and nobody else could achieve that. At the time Romney dropped out, he was in second place.
Huckabee on the other hand stayed in and refused to concede even when it was numerically impossible for him to get the votes he needed to be the nominee. However, by staying in the race, he did manage to pass Romney as the #2 vote getter.
So, technically you are right but if everyone had stopped running when it was clear we had a winner, Romney was the real runner up in the '08 battle.
Huckabee was NOT the #2 finisher in the 2008 GOP primaries. When Romney dropped out, he was McCain's main challenger. Huckabee stayed in far longer than good sense required. It's also interesting that with Romney out of the race, Huckabee was unable to beat McCain in a one-on-one contest. That would not have been the case if Huckabee had dropped out, leaving Romney alone to face McCain.
Sorry, but with his abysmal record in Massachusetts on healthcare and gun control legislation, I'll never vote for him.
Bruce,
Explain the "abysmal" record in Massachusetts. While no politician enjoys universal approval, Romney's record was hardly as you characterize it.
I read the local papers there and the concensus among voters seems be that the state was much better off when led by Romney than it is today with Duvall Patrick in charge.
"Abysmal" record on health care and guns? I live in Massachusetts. Because of Romney's leadership, MA has made more progress than any other state in the nation in covering their uninsured. They have the lowest uninsured rate in the nation, and that was accomplished by strengthening the private market and not with a government insurance plan. On firearms, Romney loosened restrictions on licensing, and on manufacturers. He had the backing of the Gun Owners Action League.
It's true that Romney is the acknowledged runner-up to McCain. He actually had more votes and more delegates than Huckabee - even though Huck stayed in 6 weeks longer - but in some states his delegates were transfered to McCain.
Also, NRA Vice-President, David Keene heartily endorsed Romney in 08, so it's pretty clear he has no real problem with gun rights proponents.
Romney 2012!!
Huckabee is a stinky fish to most in Iowa! He continues even today bashing Mitt! Huckabee needs to stay right where he is,away from Iowa!
No one will vote for a MORMON period!!! This is how it will go down. Sarah wins Iowa, Mitt takes New Hampshire, then Sarah sweeps South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida. Romney concedes again. The guy has a snobbish attitude and elitist persona.
Ron,
Why don't you debate policy or fitness for the Presidency instead of attacking someone's religion?
Most of us subscribe to religious beliefs that our parents taught us and their parents before them. Romney comes from a Mormon family and while their teachings may be different from those of my own religion, I won't fault him for what he was taught to believe from the time he was a little boy.
As best I can tell, the guy has led an outstanding life as most Mormons do. He has one wife and a model family so honestly, how can you really be against that? Aren't we to judge the tree by its fruit.
It is so good to hear people speaking truth about Romeny. I think he is a solid leader
Thanks for the update on Romney!
I look forward to supporting him in his run in 2012.
As for Romney's faith, I think it is ironic that "Mormons", as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sometimes known, are still so misunderstood. "Mormons" (a nickname only) are the fourth largest religion in America. We are going to get used to seeing members of the faith run, Governor Jon Huntsman being another likely future candidate. Hopefully it is sooner rather than later, as Romney is a VERY capable leader who will do a lot of good for this country. He is a natural public servant, very much in the image of his father who was Governor of Michigan AND ran for President when Romney was a boy.
Thanks for noting that Romney is our current front runner! I hope he stays that way. I wouldn't mind a Palin or maybe Gingrich as his VP. :)
I want to clarify some information. Mitt Romney never supported and still does not support civil unions. Mitt Romney supported the idea of civil unions in Massachusetts when arguing with the courts when they overturned the ban on same-sex marriage that was passed by Massachusetts voters. He also should be described as a hard-core conservative. He has no moderate stances other than gun control.
Cold splash of reality on the chances of Mitt Romney.
Governor Mitt Romney was expected to win the 2008 Republican nomination with a solid margin thanks to his personal fortune, financial savvy, and political experience. He didn't. If he can't meet expectations on the primary level in winning the Republican nomination when he's expected to, he won't win against President Obama on the national election level.
And if he's willing to dig deep into his personal fortune to fund his national campaign on the off chance he should win the Republican nomination, there's a simple charge to counter him. "There goes Mitt Romney trying to buy the Presidency with his money." Voters would look unkindly on such a charge.
Surgen,
Where does your assertion that Governor Romney was “expected” to win the 2008 Republican nomination come from? That’s not quite historically accurate. While Mr. Romney does indeed possess financial savvy, a personal fortune, and political experience as you indicate, he was hardly considered a ‘shoe-in’ for the 2008 nomination so it is a mischaracterization to consider his campaign unsuccessful.
If one thinks back to 2007, Mitt Romney was largely unknown outside of Massachusetts and perhaps Utah. Although he’d successfully navigated the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic games from presumed failure to great success and brought Massachusetts’ budget from deficit to surplus, he remained largely unknown by the rest of America. The real failure of 2008 was Rudy Giuliani who as ‘America’s Mayor’ was considered to have the inside track. Every American had been glued to their televisions in the days following 9-11 and Rudy’s face, his name and his leadership was both known and
Surgen ctd.
...respected. The media was geared up for a Rudy vs Hillary race which never materialized. John McCain having come in second in 2000 was also well known nationally and expected to be competitive but most bets were on Rudy. Mitt was an unknown when he walked upon a stage in Dearborn and announced his intent to run and he went from relative obscurity to winning the silver medal as he would say which wasn’t too bad at all. No doubt his money helped in his endeavor.
Since you also make reference to that money with the comment that he was “…trying to buy the Presidency”, how about we look at that issue honestly? Every candidate for President has to “buy” the office. Barack Obama bought it with millions of dollars from lobbyist groups, special interest groups, and from interested private citizens. In doing so, he is beholden to them. He owes them and they expect a return on their “investment”. They expect favors or special access. They expect many things. Now,
Surgen ctd 2, (comments begin below)
...wouldn’t it be better if a man ran and won who had worked hard all his life, amassed a personal fortune and used his own money to win? That guy wouldn’t owe anybody anything except the American people who gave him their votes. The truth is all elections are bought and it would be better to have a man like Romney in the Oval Office who owes his allegiance to no one but himself.
His religion is a plus -- he lives his values, it's not just talk.
When the SJC overturned the gay marriage ban, and despite the lack of passed legislation, Gov. Romney ordered the clerks to offer gay marriage licenses. To this day and every new session, the legislature has a gay marriage law in waiting but never has the guts to bring it up and debate the issue thus gay marriage occurs without a law in place, just the SJC decision. If it is challenged, what law will they use? MGL chapter what??? The SJC does not make law, only the great and general court does and in this case they haven't yet. And despite collecting thousands of signatures, the great and general court refused to allow it to come to a vote. Sounds like they were afraid it would lose in MA as it did in CA years later. Gutless
If you look closely Romney finished second in the GOP primary. Even though he dropped out months before Huckabee, he still had more delegates.
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