Seeking sanity on Planet Massachusetts

Kathleen Parker

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | There was a time not so long ago when a sane person could say, "Children need a mom and a dad," and the townspeople would yawn, roll their eyes and wonder why some folks insist on sharing such prosaic insights.

This might still be true in some parts of the world, but not in Massachusetts, where the water apparently is tainted with more than old tea, and where stating the obvious — as Gov. Mitt Romney recently did — will get you labeled a hate-mongering radical wing nut.

Actually, it's worse than that. For his support of the traditional, two-parent, heterosexual family, Romney has been accused of being like President George W. Bush. Now them's fightin' words, for sure.

In a damning editorial, the Boston Globe criticized Romney for taking "a page from President Bush's illogic by insisting that every child 'has a right to a mother and a father,' implying that two women or two men could not possibly do the job."

Actually, Romney's statement implies nothing of the sort. Two men and two women can raise children, just as one woman or one man can raise children. But neither case provides an ideal environment, which is Romney's point as well as the opinion of a majority of Americans.

Romney, who made his remarks during visits to Utah and South Carolina, doesn't get a free pass. Some of his remarks were, shall we say, not well considered. In one instance, the governor said that same-sex marriage is "a blow to the family." In another, he noted that some same-sex couples are "actually having children born to them."

As excerpted, that last statement sounds as though Romney were discussing some alien species that somehow managed to replicate human progeny. But within the larger context of the same-sex marriage debate, his meaning might be understood as something else. Not that gays have no right to families of their own, but that in principle, children's interests are best served by having both a mother and a father.

Most Americans agree with that statement — which is imminently reasonable and which surely is just as true for gay children as for straights. How many gays or lesbians, after all, would prefer to have had no mother, or no father, as the case may be?

For purposes of discussion, no abused children are allowed to respond. Clearly, we're talking about ideals and principles, not worst-case scenarios, as The Globe editorial does in one of its most fallacious arguments, posed as questions:

"Would Romney support dissolving that child's family?" the editorial asks, referring to the child of a same-sex family. "Would he prevent gay couples from adopting needy children — products of often abusive homes or dissolved heterosexual unions?"

Again, nothing Romney said suggests either that he would break up gay couples or try to prevent abused children from finding a safe home, even with a same-sex couple. Believing that children are best off with a mother and a father is a principle, not a strategy for hurting people who happen to be homosexual.

The Globe editorial also relies on the testimony of children to make a case for same-sex marriage. Doubtless these are lovely children who love their parents, but they ARE children. One, an 11-year-old boy whose parents are lesbians, spoke at a recent demonstration outside the governor's office, saying:

"My family is just an ordinary family, and I don't know why we can't live together and be happy."

Again, no one has said this child can't live with his two mothers or that he can't be happy. What traditional-family advocates believe is that an 11-year-old boy also would benefit from having a dad. By endorsing same-sex marriage, society effectively declares otherwise.

Obviously, he's better off without a dad who is also an abusive, pill-popping, philandering drunk. But once again, the worst dad possible should not be our standard for defining family policy.

Ultimately, there may be no resolution to these differences in perspective. No one can fault gays and lesbians for wanting spouses and children of their own. We all — hetero and homo — seem to be equally deranged on that score. But the essential question is not what adults want, but what is best for children.

In principle if not always in practice.

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The Republicans' Mr. Fix-it

Mitt Romney standing on pier in front of his home on lake Winnipessaukee, NH.

Mitt Romney, a few minutes before appearing at a "Ask Mitt Anything Town Hall Meeting", in Muscatine, Iowa.

Mitt Romney is filthy rich, he's handsome, and he's the first honest-to-god businessman to have a real shot at the White House in 40 years.

By Marcia Vickers, Fortune senior writer

June 27 2007: 10:51 AM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- Willard Mitt Romney looks great in a suit. Which is good for him, because all day "Matinee Mitt" has been wearing a crisp, gray number. Speeches, grip-and-grin events, a veterans hall - no venue-appropriate costume changes, just pure Brooks Brothers. Even now, when it's 85 degrees and he's surrounded by people in shorts, the man won't so much as loosen his tie.

It's Memorial Day, we're standing around waiting for a photo shoot to begin in front of his summerhouse on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, and he's refusing his handlers' pleas to at least take his jacket off. "This is going to be like Nixon on the beach," a campaign worker mutters, referring to a 1960s photo of the late former President strolling the sands of sunny San Clemente, looking as though he'd rather be negotiating with the Soviets.

You could interpret Romney's wardrobe as a sign of Nixonian stiffness. Or as a deliberate choice, which may be closer to the truth. Perhaps he wants to convey extreme focus and discipline. (He talks the way he looks, in perfectly controlled, press-release-ready platitudes. For example, when I ask what he'd do first as President, he answers, "I will do a complete assessment of where we are, where the problems are, what challenges we face. Every dimension of government I would take apart - look at how effective they are.")

He is, after all, the most serious major-party presidential candidate to come out of the business world since ... well, since his father, George Romney, onetime CEO of American Motors, who ran in 1968. Unlike fellow Republican George W. Bush, Romney, 60, can't be accused of being a political heir with some private-sectorish experience. He's the brilliant strategist-dealmaker who founded Bain Capital and built it into one of the largest private-equity firms in the world - and accumulated a personal fortune of around $400 million in the process. He's the turnaround artist who saved the 2002 Winter Olympics. And, as governor of Massachusetts, he's the policy innovator who pushed through some of the most promising health-care-reform legislation in a generation.

People who know him won't shut up about how smart and pragmatic and decisive he is. "Mitt never takes anything at face value," says Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia's business school and a Romney (and former Bush administration) economic advisor. "He's constantly questioning." Says Fraser Bullock, a former Bain partner who worked with Romney on the Olympics: "He's not an ideologue. He makes decisions based on researching data more deeply than anyone I know. As people get to know him better, they'll see an extremely competent, strong leader."

If the election were based on résumé bullet points, the guy would be a shoo-in. That's not how it works, of course. As we'll see, Romney has felt the need to downplay his career highlights. Some in his party worry that he's too pragmatic - that he's not ideological enough. And there's his Mormon faith, which, like it or not, probably hurts his chances.

But his business skills have come in handy. In recent polls he's the leading Republican candidate in both New Hampshire and Iowa, which is impressive, considering that he started out without the name recognition of John McCain or Rudy Giuliani. (Nationally he's lagging behind Giuliani, McCain, and Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee Senator.) More impressive still is his money-raising ability: He's raised more and has been spending it faster than his Republican opponents on ads and campaigning. His strategy, his national campaign director has said, is that "money talks, but early money screams" - legitimacy, that is.

The birth of Bain Capital

Romney was always a self-starter. "He has more energy than anyone I know," says Geoffrey Rehnert, who helped Romney start Bain Capital. He grew up steeped in business and politics. His father had parlayed his automobile industry success into a three-term governorship of Michigan; his mother, Lee, once ran for the Senate. After graduating as valedictorian from Brigham Young University, Romney headed off to Harvard, where he finished in the top 5% of his MBA class and simultaneously earned a law degree. Then he got a job at Bain & Co., where he worked as a management consultant beside Meg Whitman, now chief of eBay, and former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins.

Ultimately Romney grew frustrated because he couldn't implement the strategies he was recommending to clients. He was ready to leave Bain Consulting, the story goes, when Bill Bain offered him a chance to form a company in which he could put his management-consulting skills to work and share in any upside of the firm's stock performance. Bain Capital was born in 1984 with just $37 million to invest.

Romney's new firm set out to find companies that were under-performing their peers. His sales pitch was that Bain Capital wasn't just an investing firm - it also knew from managing. From the beginning, Bain charged its clients a 30% fee, compared with the 20% standard private-equity fee. "Bain figured out before anyone that they could apply their consulting expertise, not just financial engineering, to the companies they bought," says Steve Kaplan, a finance professor at the University of Chicago's business school. "It was very unusual when they first started. Most firms have now copied the Bain model."

For each potential investment, Romney and fellow Bainiacs would stage a "strategic audit," dissecting cash flow and market share and delving into customer satisfaction and management prowess. After studying a business in minute detail, Romney has said, "we had a pretty good map of what was right and wrong in terms of the business - what had to be fixed and which were urgent and which were long term." Under Romney, Bain invested and staged turnarounds in more than 150 companies, among them such household names as Brookstone, Sealy, and Domino's Pizza.

Romney considers Staples ( Charts, Fortune 500) his biggest success. In 1985 entrepreneur Tom Stemberg told Romney that he wanted to launch a chain of office-supply stores. Stemberg was convinced that businesses were paying far too much for paperclips, pens, and, naturally, staples. "Mitt could totally relate to the concept. He's a person who watches his pennies," says Stemberg. (Bain initially invested $600,000. Staples started in May 1986 and went public in 1989. Revenues last fiscal year: $18 billion.)

From the inception of Bain Capital to 1999 - Romney's watch - the firm posted average gross returns in excess of 100% annually. Its assets grew to more than $4 billion. And Romney, of course, got rich.

 

Mitt Romney standing on pier in front of his home on lake Winnipessaukee, NH.

Mitt Romney, a few minutes before appearing at a "Ask Mitt Anything Town Hall Meeting", in Muscatine, Iowa.

Romney on business In between campaign stops in May, Romney spent 45 minutes chatting confidently (if platitudinously) about what he'd do to stage a government turnaround. The big priorities: less wasteful spending and more private-sector-style efficiency. Some highlights...

On the role of government "I'm a big believer in allowing the free market to work and not allowing the government to lay a heavy hand on how businesses operate." On taxes "I want to get rid of all capital gains taxes for middle-income taxpayers. I also think it's fundamentally unfair that you get taxed when you've earned it, taxed when you save it, and taxed when you've died. So I'd get rid of the death [estate] tax, too, for middle-income Americans." On Sarbanes-Oxley "I would keep parts of Sarbanes-Oxley that have proven effective in insisting on managerial responsibilities. For instance, it's important that CEOs and CFOs continue to sign statements attesting to veracity of financial statements. But Sarbanes-Oxley, actually section 404, puts a weighty process and financial burden on small businesses." On his business background "I think it would be helpful to have a leader who understands how the economy works - who knows how to solve problems and would bring a fresh outside view to actually transform Washington into an enterprise that can tackle tough problems and not simply engage in partisan bickering."

Little-known Mitt facts He's a cheapskate Has been known to pop his own popcorn, which he then brings into movie theaters. He was a high school cheerleader Pep squad, Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He has run afoul of the law Arrested in high school for sliding down a hill on an ice block at a golf course. He enjoys practical jokes As a teenager, liked to dress up as a policeman and scare friends on dates in their cars. He was once pronounced dead At 21, after a car crash in France. Romney survived, obviously.

"It wasn't always clear that Mitt wanted to go into politics," says Fraser Bullock. "My view is that he was raised in a household dedicated to public service. It was in his DNA." For Romney's part, he says he felt called to serve at this "special time in the history of America [with] the challenges and opportunities." He says he's the guy for the Oval Office because of his experience "innovating and transforming" in the private sector.

Indeed, Romney was a registered Independent in the early '90s. But in 1994, now a Republican, he surprised his Bain colleagues by trying to unseat longtime Senator Ted Kennedy, a Democrat. It was a disaster. Kennedy turned Romney's stellar business record around on him, running attack ads featuring union workers who said they'd been fired after Bain took over their company. Romney claimed he had nothing to do with the layoffs, but it's undeniable that, as with many restructurings, Bain deals involved hundreds of job cuts. In any event, Kennedy trounced Romney.

"Mitt learned a hard lesson there, perhaps too hard, that his business skills can be used against him on the political front," says Eric Kriss, a Bain Capital founding partner who was secretary of administration and finance when Romney was governor. (Romney did get a laugh line out of his defeat: "I was once campaigning in a poor section in Boston when a person came up to me and said, 'What are you doing here? This is Kennedy country.' I looked around at the vacant storefronts and boarded-up windows and replied, 'Yeah, it looks like Kennedy country.'")

Romney returned to Bain yet again, but one person who worked with him says he seemed "on the lookout for the next thing that would make him a bigger star." That would be the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. As early as 1999, a financial crisis was looming: The Games were mired in a bribery scandal and were running a $379 million deficit. Romney was asked to step in, and he immediately slashed budgets and boosted sponsorships. And since the Games were held just months after Sept. 11, 2001, he oversaw a huge security apparatus. He now says it was one of the most difficult things he'd ever done, comparing it to "arranging 17 Super Bowls a day for 17 days." The Games ended up with a $100 million profit. President Bush publicly praised his management skills, giving him his first brush with national fame.

On a roll, Romney then won the Massachusetts governor's race as a moderate Republican - socially liberal, fiscally conservative. He took office at the beginning of 2003. His administration had three major victories: the health plan, essentially a plausible blueprint for establishing universal health care; an inventive environmental plan (which he backed away from at the last minute, afraid it would be seen as too "Al Gore lefty," as a former advisor puts it); and a balanced budget.

Romney had big plans to revamp education too, but in 2005 "he started to drift off," says the advisor. One reason: He became president of the Republican Governors' Association, another national platform, which allowed him to travel the country supporting gubernatorial candidates. In 2006, the last year of his term, the Boston Globe noted that he'd spent 212 days out of state. Romney was already on his next goal: the presidency.

Mitt-a-thon

This past January Romney raised $6.5 million in one day. He had invited 400 wealthy supporters to a "Mitt-a-Thon" at the Boston convention center and asked them to phone friends and business contacts for donations. While Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit" played, four gigantic TV screens hung from the ceiling broadcast various moments of Mitt magnificence - the Olympics, speeches, etc. There were 40 call centers, each with state-of-the-art technology. "I call it the blitzkrieg fundraiser," says Alex Vogel, a Republican lobbyist with no ties to Romney or other candidates. Vogel notes it was Romney's way of conveying, "Hey, I'm for real."

Given Romney's business acumen, it's no surprise he's assembled one of the most successful political money machines ever. "Romney is an incredibly aggressive and efficient fundraiser," says Vogel, who attributes it to his private-sector skills. In April, when he was still relatively unknown nationally, Romney made headlines when his campaign reported it had blown past the rest of the Republican field and raised $23 million in the first quarter, rivaling Hillary Clinton's $26 million and surpassing Barack Obama's $21 million.

Romney got serious about fundraising three years ago when he started the Commonwealth PAC (political action committee). It's a so-called leadership PAC - that is, the money donated is supposed to push issues; by law, it can't be used to fund the founder's political campaign. In practice, a leadership PAC "can be a bit of a personal slush fund," says Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. The money is often used in a candidate's "exploratory committee" phase to finance travel and staff. Last year Romney used Commonwealth PAC bucks to visit Guantánamo Bay and Iraq.

Romney aggressively took advantage of a loophole that allows donors to contribute to PAC affiliates in multiple states all at one time. He set up affiliate PACs in Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Michigan. (The most an individual can contribute to a federal PAC like Commonwealth is $5,000 annually; state PACs have different, typically higher limits. A dozen states, including Michigan and Iowa, have no limit at all.) That way Romney supporters were able to spread their contributions among the various state PACs. Last year, for example, Lee Munder, a Florida investment advisor, gave $5,000 to Romney's federal PAC, $5,000 to his New Hampshire affiliate, $18,250 to his Iowa affiliate, $18,250 to the one in Michigan, and $3,500 to his South Carolina fund, according to the Commonwealth PAC. (Romney may not be able to use PAC money to fund his campaign now that he's an official candidate, but he can still dole it out to state Republican candidates to build his power base.)

Romney has also raised more money than any other candidate, Republican or Democrat, over the Internet. In the first quarter ComMitt.com brought in $7.2 million, vs. $6.9 million for Obama and $4.2 million for Clinton - and Romney got more glowing headlines, this time about his red-hot "Netroots" effort. But those numbers were more tactical dexterity than common-man groundswell: The Romney campaign, it turns out, was directing big donors to its website. "It's an innovative use of the Internet," says Patrick Ruffini, an e-campaign expert who recently worked for Giuliani. "We've been focused on a new audience. But you can't neglect the importance of using technology to activate an existing base of supporters."

No matter how whiz-bang Romney's fundraising tactics are, his biggest stumbling block is probably himself. In Alton, N.H., on Memorial Day, Romney is meeting with veterans at the American Legion. It's a flag-waving, mostly blue-collar crowd; many of the older veterans are dripping with military bling. Romney takes the mike and begins his rapid, well-rehearsed talk. He moves from issue to issue, including how "violent jihadists are waging a global war against the United States," and "I want to see more immigration in our country, but more legal immigration and less illegal immigration."

Then it's Q&A time. A few people want to know how to solve personal issues: a son who hasn't received medical benefits since he returned from Iraq; a father who can't get admitted to a VA hospital. Romney looks uneasy. "I'm not an elected official right now," he says, "but if I were ..." He then goes on to say he'd make veteran health care a priority and instructs the people in need to contact their Congressman.

Back at Lake Winnipesaukee, it's an idyllic setting. Romney's Colonial-style house has glorious views of the shimmering lake and the White Mountains beyond. His son Tagg, 37, who seems like a more laid-back version of Mitt and works on the campaign, is running around the yard in a swimsuit and T-shirt with his two dogs. The photographer is about ready, and it's Tagg's turn to cajole the candidate to loosen up. He respectfully asks Dad to lose the jacket. Romney refuses. "All they'll see is my blinding white shirt," he says.

Memorial Day is coming to an end. The grandkids are gathering up toys from the yard. Neighbors have fired up the grill. And there's Mitt Romney, suited up and ready for business.

Telis Demos and Doris Burke contributed to this article. 

From the July 9, 2007 issue

Chris Cillizza embarrasses himself with his logic, but comes to the right conclusion

REPUBLICANS
Mitt Romney

1. Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor takes over the top spot on The Line for the first time this cycle. Why? Because his strength in Iowa led both former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain to back out of the state GOP's straw poll set for this summer; because he appears headed for another first- or second-place finish in the money chase; and because he continues to withstand attacks on his decision to change positions on key issues like gay rights without losing the momentum he is building. We know all the reasons why we shouldn't read too much into Romney's pole position in surveys in Iowa and New Hampshire — he's the only major Republican candidate on the airwaves, the race isn't yet engaged etc. But he's still ahead in the two most important early states, and that matters. (Previous ranking: 3)

Here is the link

But how does he embarrass himself? With this terrible long sentence:

Because his strength in Iowa led both former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain to back out of the state GOP's straw poll set for this summer; because he appears headed for another first- or second-place finish in the money chase; and because he continues to withstand attacks on his decision to change positions on key issues like gay rights without losing the momentum he is building.

Chris seems like a smart guy, but this post proves that he is unable to do his own research. This sentense proves that he lives inside the echo chamber of Washington where all the "important" people just repeat each other and don't listen to anyone else. The truth doesn't matter. Chris heard someone else say that Romney changed his position on gay rights, this other person was important, and so nothing that us little people can say will change his mind. It doesn't matter that we are right and have proof. This is where Chris embarrasses himself: he is too lazy to do his own research. I don't mean to make it personal, but I don't know what else to do. We have to speak truth to power, and so I think I have to make it a personal attack, and call names.. Maybe I'm wrong.

If Chris went to this website he would read:

During his 1994 campaign against Senator Edward Kennedy, Romney said that same-sex marriage "is not appropriate at this time" and pointed out that marriage was regulated under the jurisdiction of state laws. He also said his voice, as a Republican, would carry more weight on lesbian and gay issues than Kennedy's, even if they took the same position on issues like allowing gays and lesbians in the military. When seeking the campaign support of the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, he said, "We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern".

SO ROMNEY HAS NOT CHANGED HIS POSITION ON GAY RIGHTS!

Do only losers write in blogs in ALL CAPS? Do only losers complain that "important" people don't listen to him? Do people in Iowa see right past, and ignore these insiders? Maybe I should ignore them, because what they think is even less important than what I write.

Romney, Mitt Letter to Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts (PDF); October 6, 1994. [Published on Bay Windows web site.] Retrieved December 14, 2006.

Lehigh, Scot. "Kennedy, Romney battle for the middle." Boston Globe, October 10, 1994.

Nagourney, Adam; and Kirkpatrick, David D. Romney's Gay Rights Stance Draws Ire The New York Times, December 09, 2006. Retrieved December 11, 2006.

I am not a smart person. But I find it embarrassing for people who get paid to know what is going on, can be so out ignorant.

You say, "this guy is the first major newspaper writer to put Romney in the top spot, and you call him ignorant?!" Maybe I just like being counterintuitive, but maybe it takes something like this to get their attention? Maybe I'm just ignorant? What do you think?

~ Mike

ABC: A Man of Faith Should Explain his Faith

posted 16:33pm by Ryan

ABC's Jake Tapper asserted on the network's This Week today that if Romney wishes to run as a man of faith, he should be expected to explain exactly what his faith requires him to believe. He raises the example of the Mormon beliefs regarding Jesus' eventual Second Coming to the earth. If Romney wishes to be taken seriously as a religious candidate, why can't he tell us exactly how the specific tenets of that religion inform his world view?

This position has a nice logical ring to it, but breaks down on examination. First of all, it is not entirely accurate to say that Romney is running as a man of faith. Rather, he has asserted that he is a religious person in line with the mainstream of America only as a defense to attacks that his Mormonism should disqualify him from office. This is not an affirmative talking point, but a defense against the anti-Mormon crowd. The fact that he is forced to highlight his religious values in order to stay in the race should not be read to open the door to discuss all of Mormon doctrine in a political campaign.

Secondly, note the example Jake Tapper brings up. So Romney is a man of faith, but why should that mean he needs to explain complex doctrines regarding the far off return of Jesus Christ? Surely John McCain, Mike Brownback and Mike Huckabee, if they take their brands of Christianity seriously, have their own beliefs about the mode and meaning of Jesus' return. Mitt Romney has been no more emphatic about his own religiosity than any of these men, so it should follow that we are entitled to hear their own thoughts on this "important" issue.

To imagine John McCain being forced to expound his beliefs on the Second Coming highlights the absurdity of the argument in the first place. Why on earth should voters care what John McCain thinks about how and where Jesus might someday appear on the earth? Is Mitt Romney any different?

Tapper's argument rests on the idea that voters are entitled to understand the basis for their candidates' claims. If you say you're a conservative, you should have to prove it, and if you say you're religious, you should have to back that up too. But there is a certain line to be drawn as well. Mitt Romney's belief about the location of Jesus' return will not inform his administration of the country in any way. His ideas about integrity, fidelity in marriage, and Christian kindness might. Ask away on those topics. But before you can expect him to discuss his beliefs on more obscure points of doctrine (on which topics all religions have their own positions), you'd better explain why those questions bear any relevance to voters.

So, the ball's in your court, Mr. Tapper– as soon as you can explain why voters should care about Mitt Romney's beliefs on the Second Coming of Jesus, Romney can be expected to detail exactly those beliefs. Deal?

Filed under: MSM, Romney, Mormonism

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Romney to the Rescue

Mitt Romney's Got the
Right Stuff for 2008

NewsMax Magazine has just released its April 2007 cover story. Please take a moment to read Ronald Kessler's exclusive story on the former Massachusetts governor. Also check out our FREE offer for our Romney edition with a special gift — Click Here Now.

---

By Ronald Kessler

Mitt Romney was faced with a crisis in July 1996. The 14-year-old daughter of Robert Gay, a partner in Romney's new venture capital firm, Bain Capital, had disappeared. As it turned out, she had attended a rave party in New York City and had become high on ecstasy. Three days later, her distraught father had no idea where she was.

Romney took immediate action. He closed down the entire firm and asked all 30 partners and employees to fly to New York to try to find Gay's daughter.

Romney set up a command center in a conference room at the LaGuardia Marriott just outside Manhattan. He hired a private detective firm to assist with the search and established a toll-free number for tips, coordinating the effort with the New York City Police Department, but he still wasn't satisfied. He raced through his Rolodex and called everyone Bain did business with in New York. He asked them to help his company find their friend's missing daughter.

The company's accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and its law firm, put up posters on street poles with a photo of the missing teenager. Cashiers at Duane Reade Pharmacies, which was owned by Bain Capital, put fliers in the bag of each shopper.

Romney and others from the Bain Capital posse trudged through every part of New York, even scouring Central Park, and talked with everyone they could - prostitutes, drug addicts - anyone who may have seen her. They also made rounds at the local nightclubs at 3 a.m., hoping someone somewhere could identify her.

The Life and Times of Willard Mitt Romney Mitt Romney's life has taken a number of twists and turns on the road to his presidential candidacy. 1947: Willard Mitt Romney born in Detroit on March 12. His middle name is the nickname of an NFL player. 1965: Meets 15-year-old Ann Davies at a party. They would wed four years later. 1968: Nearly killed in an auto accident while serving as a Mormon missionary in France. 1971: Graduates from Brigham Young University at the top of his class. 1975: Graduates from a joint program at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. 1978: Named vice president of management consulting firm Bain & Co. 1984: Founds Bain Capital, a venture capital firm. 1990: Returns to Bain & Co. as interim CEO. 1994: Runs unsuccessfully for the Senate against Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts; makes statements in support of abortion and gay rights that will later come back to haunt him. 1998: Wife Ann diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. 1999: Takes over the debt-ridden 2002 Winter Olympics; goes on to spearhead turnaround of the Salt Lake Olympics Organizing Committee. 2002: Elected governor of Massachusetts with 50 percent of the vote. 2003: Pushes for a constitutional amendment in Massachusetts that would outlaw gay marriage. 2004: Publishes the book Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games. 2005: Elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association on Dec. 2. 2005: On Dec. 14, announces that he will not seek re-election as governor. 2007: On Jan. 8, raises $6.5 million in a single day for his presidential exploratory committee. 2007: Formally announces his candidacy for the White House at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. on Feb. 13.

The same day the Romney team came to New York, the hunt made the evening news. Television cameras showed photos of the girl and video of investment banker types prowling through Central Park.

The next day, a teenage boy she was with phoned in. He asked if there was a reward. But the boy got nervous and quickly hung up. Luckily, the police traced the call to a home in Montville Township, N.J.

Gay's daughter, when they found her in the basement of that home, was shivering through detox after a massive dose of ecstasy. Doctors later told Gay that he was indeed fortunate - his daughter probably would not have lasted another day.

"It was the most amazing thing, and I'll never forget this to the day I die," Gay says, adding of Romney's intervention, "I'm not sure we would have gotten her back without him."

It is often during a crisis that we gain insight into a person's real character. Romney's action demonstrated leadership, loyalty, and selflessness - attributes that Americans just might like to see in a president of the United States.

Editor's Note: Get NewsMax Magazine with our FREE Offer and gift worth $38 — Click Here Now .

Reaganesque Demeanor

People say that Mitt Romney lights up a room. But there are all kinds of ways to light up a room - fluorescent, neon, sunlight, strobe. Romney alternates between sparkle and a warm, steady glow. He is not in your face. He is low-key, self-assured, and self-contained.

That could be a metaphor for Romney's candidacy. When the subject of the 2008 presidential election comes up, Republicans talk about the prospects of the obvious front-runners, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. But they often end the conversation by saying, "You know, I really like Mitt Romney."

The fact that Massachusetts, where only 13 percent of registered voters are Republicans, could elect Romney governor by a five-point margin (50 percent versus 45 percent for his Democratic opponent) underscores his popularity among Republicans and Democrats alike.

In the coming months, Americans will be focusing on the candidates - and most of their initial impressions will be based on how the candidates come across on TV. In this media-driven age, Romney begins with a decisive advantage.

First, he has sensational good looks. People magazine named him one of the 50 most beautiful people in America. Standing 6 feet, 2 inches tall, Romney has jet-black hair, graying naturally at the temples. Women - who will play a critical role in this coming election - have a word for him: hot.

But it's more than good looks. In an hour-long NewsMax interview at Romney's Boston headquarters, the candidate is Reaganesque: a man with a sunny, positive disposition. On his desk he has a desk plate that states "America Is Never Stuck."

Sounding like a television character from the 1950s, he is not self-conscious about saying "gosh" or "my goodness."

Romney speaks with the effortless delivery of the best news anchors, making the 60-year-old "the un-Bush," according to Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Similar to Bush, Romney has had a successful business career that made him a multimillionaire.

While running for the Senate in 1994, Romney filed a disclosure statement showing assets of $16 million to $25 million. In 1992 and 1993, he collected income of $6.8 million, including fees as a director of Staples and Marriott.

If elected president, he will have to disclose his tax returns but not his assets. He will not say how much he is worth today, but his net worth is likely well into the tens of millions.

"I'll have to ask my wife how much she's worth," Romney jokes.

With looks, charisma, money, and family all working for him, can anything hold Romney back?

Perhaps the lurking problem for him is the Mormon thing - "Mitt the Mormon," as Romney sardonically refers to the issue.

Despite the media fixation on his religion, it's difficult to find national evangelical leaders who openly oppose Romney on religious grounds. Not so liberal pundits.

Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate, the online magazine owned by the Washington Post Co., had no compunctions about writing, "Romney's religion will become an issue with moderate and secular voters - and rightly so."

He added, "Objecting to someone because of his religious beliefs is not the same thing as prejudice based on religious heritage, race, or gender." If so, Weisberg's view would open the door to anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, or any other bias based on religion.

Religion and Responsibility

Ann Romney: The Mayor's Daughter Is Advocate for Kids The first sentence of Ann Romney's official campaign biography makes her priorities clear: "Ann Romney places primary importance on her role as a wife, a mother, and a grandmother." Yet by no means is she notable for her domestic accomplishments alone: Residence: Belmont, Mass. Education: Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in French, from Brigham Young University. Notable Accomplishments: Won the MS Society's Inspiration Award, for raising public awareness about Multiple Sclerosis. Helped develop the Right To Play Program (formerly Olympic Aid), an international program that uses sport and play as a way to help the world's most disadvantaged children. Recipient of the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from Operation Kids. A dedicated equestrian, she won the Gold Medal (Grand Prix level) from the U.S. Dressage Federation last year and the Silver Medal in 2005. Charitable Activities: Board Member, New England Chapter of the MS Society; Governor's Liaison, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; former board member, United Way of Massachusetts Bay; supporter of equine therapy programs for physically challenged kids; former board member, Massachusetts' Children's Trust Fund; former director of Best Friends, which gives adolescent, inner-city girls educational and community-service opportunities. Primary Policy Interest: Improving the welfare of children. She participates in various programs to help children, including the annual Scholastic Reading event, as well as organizations such as Partners for Youth with Disabilities, the American Red Cross, the Boston Ten Point Coalition, and the Perkins School for the Blind. Religion: Raised an Episcopalian, she converted to Mormonism. Early Years: Ann Davies was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and her father was the town's mayor. She dated Mitt Romney when she was a senior at Kings-wood School. Marriage: "I didn't want to be anywhere else but with Ann," Mitt Romney says. "I wanted to be with her all the time and couldn't imagine being anywhere else besides being with her. And so, at the senior prom, as we danced a little bit, we went outside of the school and I turned to her and said, 'Ann, would you marry me?' And she said 'Yes.'" The couple was married on March 21, 1969. Favorite Pastimes: Skiing and horseback riding. She credits her interaction with horses for helping her to overcome the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis she received just before Thanksgiving 1998. Family: The Romneys have five sons, five daughters-in-law, and 10 grandchildren.

The media love to depict Mitt Romney as having come from privilege, and that is certainly true. His father was George W. Romney, who was chairman of American Motors Corp.

George Romney went on to serve three terms as governor of Michigan and in 1968, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president. He then became secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Nixon.

Born on March 12, 1947, Willard Mitt Romney was named Willard for his father's friend J. Willard Marriott, a fellow Mormon who started what is now Marriott International with a nine-seat A&W Root Beer stand in Washington, D.C. From kindergarten on, Mitt preferred to be called by his middle name, which was the nickname of his father's cousin Milton, who played for the NFL's Chicago Bears in the 1920s.

The Romneys lived in the upscale suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., where Mitt attended the private Cranbrook School. He spent summers with his family in a vacation home on Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada.

However, if the family was financially set, it had little impact on Mitt's upbringing. Like most other kids, he had summer jobs. His sister Jane, an actress in Beverly Hills, remembers that she was allowed to buy only one new dress a year.

"I always hated the word 'privileged' and I never thought we were," she says. "My dad grew up with nothing. His father went bankrupt twice when my father was a kid."

George Romney died on July 26, 1995, at the age of 88. He imparted deep values to his family, values that the Mormon Church emphasizes - strong families, honesty, giving to charity, respect for human life, hard work, and clean living.

Religion was central to young Mitt's upbringing.

"The Mormon church is very much about service, because we don't have a paid ministry," Jane Romney says. "So everybody pitches in. Everybody gets called to serve in some way."

When Mitt Romney was a senior in high school, he met Ann Davies, the attractive daughter of the mayor of Bloomfield Hills. Davies attended Kingswood School, the sister school of Cranbrook. She and Romney came to the party with dates but left together. Soon they were going steady. She was 15 and he was 18.

Romney went off to Stanford, where he and Davies continued to see each other. After his freshman year, Romney left for France to begin a 30-month stint as a Mormon missionary, just as his father and Marriott had done. Romney lived in a seedy hotel in Le Havre.

Tragedy Strikes

In the summer of 1968, 21-year-old Romney was driving a Citroën in the rain on a mountainous road near Bordeaux with five other missionaries. As they rounded a curve, a Mercedes, possibly passing another car, veered over the median. The Mercedes, traveling at 70 mph, slammed almost head-on into Romney's car. Viola Anderson, the wife of his mission president, suffered crushed lungs and died. Romney was thrown from the car.

"He was unconscious from a blow to the head," Jane Romney says.

A police officer who came on the scene thought Romney was dead. On his passport, he wrote in pencil, "Il est mort" ("he is dead"). Fortunately, Romney had suffered only a broken arm.

While Romney was in France, Davies, an Episcopalian, decided to convert to Mormonism. She began attending Brigham Young University, which is affiliated with the Mormon church. Upon his return, Romney transferred to the school as a sophomore to be with her.

They were married on March 21, 1969. She was 19 and he was 22.

An English major, Romney graduated in 1971 with a 3.97 grade-point average. Because he ranked at the top of his class in the College of Humanities, he was chosen to speak on graduation day.

After a series of student and missionary deferments, Romney became available for military service in 1970. He drew a 300 in the draft lottery, but no man who had a number of 196 or higher was called from that particular drawing.

Mitt decided to attend Harvard Business School, but his father thought he should obtain a law degree, so he enrolled in a joint program at Harvard Law School. In 1975, he graduated from Harvard Law cum laude and from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar and was in the top 5 percent of his class. One of his classmates at Harvard Business School was George W. Bush.

The Romneys eventually settled in Belmont, Mass., a suburb of Boston that adjoins Cambridge. They own a Colonial-style home on 2.4 acres of land on Marsh Street. The home is worth $3.3 million.

The Romneys have five sons - Taggart, Matt, Josh, Benjamin, and Craig.

Convinced that being a consultant would prepare him to be a top manager, Romney joined Boston Consulting Group. In 1978, Bain & Co., another management consulting company, lured him away and named him vice president. His colleagues included future eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

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Business Acumen

While he was successful, Romney's role of recommending strategy rather than implementing it frustrated him. He was about to join a Chicago corporation when William Bain, the founder of Bain & Co., persuaded him to start a sister company where Romney would have operational control.

After raising $37 million in startup funds, Romney founded Bain Capital, a venture capital firm, in 1984. For the most part, the company looked for troubled companies that had good potential if management was improved.

Romney had an eye for identifying future success. Notable was Romney's investment in Staples, which had not yet opened its first office supply store. Thomas G. Stemberg, its founder, told Bain Capital that companies spent more on office supplies than they realized. He also cited the growing number of self-employed people who work at home and would patronize a discount stationery store.

Romney decided he would test Stemberg's claim himself.

"He had his associates do a survey on how much people were spending on office supplies," Stemberg tells NewsMax. "They'd call people and ask for the office manager and ask what they spend. They thought they were spending $200 an employee."

That was a fifth of what Stemberg claimed they were spending, and Romney told him that.

"Mitt then went back and actually had his guys check the invoices as well, and they found out I was right," Stemberg says, noting Romney's legendary attention to detail.

Romney agreed to put $600,000 of Bain Capital money into the new venture. "He made eight times his money in three years," Stemberg says.

Bain Capital went on to help launch or acquire Domino's Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, and The Sports Authority. Each time Romney looked into an opportunity, he submerged himself in data, analyzed the business, and then was willing to take risks if his instincts told him he was on the right track.

Because of these and other successful investments, Bain Capital now manages $40 billion.

By 1990, Bain & Co., the mother ship, was in dire straits because of excess debt. Founder William Bain asked Romney to return to the company as interim CEO to straighten things out.

Romney tightened expenses, renegotiated loans, and improved morale. He returned the company to profitability within a year before returning to lead Bain Capital.

In 1994, Romney decided to run for the Senate against Democrat Ted Kennedy. It was an audacious move, and Romney spent $6.1 million of his own money on the campaign. He felt liberal social programs of the 1960s and 1970s had created a permanent underclass and fostered poverty rather than eliminating it.

Romney managed to win 41 percent of the votes to Kennedy's 58 percent. Generally, that's not a good showing, but it was remarkable considering he was running as a Republican in a staunchly liberal state - against a Kennedy, no less.

In his effort to unseat Kennedy, Romney campaigned hard to win independent voters. But now some of his campaign statements have come back to haunt him as he runs nationally.

In December 2006, Bay Windows, a Boston-based gay and lesbian newspaper, republished excerpts from an interview it did with Romney in which he stated that the gay and lesbian community "needs more support from the Republican Party" and that it should be up to the states to decide whether to allow same-sex marriage.

A letter he wrote to a pro-gay organization also surfaced, in which Romney said he supported "full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens."

Sanctity of Marriage

Mitt with wife Ann and their children

When Romney made the comments in 1994, gay marriage had not yet become a serious issue. But in 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in a 4-3 decision, ruled that marriage in the commonwealth would no longer be limited to unions between men and women, Romney pushed for an amendment to the state constitution that would outlaw gay marriage.

In a recent interview in his corner office at his campaign headquarters, Romney sticks by his position condemning discrimination against gays and lesbians.

"I can tell you this, which is I believe gay individuals should enjoy tolerance and respect," Romney says. "They should have equal opportunities in housing and employment. We shouldn't discriminate against people based upon their sexual preference or orientation."

Romney's position is the same one staked out by President Bush.

"At the same time, I believe that marriage should be reserved for a relationship between one man and one woman. For me, that's not a matter of discrimination," Romney adds.

He also supports Bush's effort to ban gay marriage by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution - which separates him from Giuliani and McCain, who oppose such a change.

Another potentially damaging piece of baggage from the 1994 campaign is his comment about abortion made during a debate with Kennedy. Romney said, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it."

Romney now says that, like President Reagan, he has changed his views and position on abortion.

During the debate over stem-cell research, Romney met with experts from Harvard at his State House office.

"It was during that discussion, which related to something called embryo farming, which is taking donor sperm and donor eggs, creating embryos, experimenting on them and then destroying them in 14 days, that it came home very forcefully to me that the Roe v. Wade mentality had cheapened the respect for human life in this country," Romney says. "And for that reason, I made it very clear that I am pro-life."

The switch has made some social conservatives question Romney's sincerity. For example, John Haskins, associate director of the Parents' Rights Coalition, brands Romney a "placebo-conservative." Others see his switch as a plus, however.

"He feels passionately that the value of human life begins at conception," says South Carolina state Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican who supports Romney. "The idea that he might have changed his mind [on Roe v. Wade] is very appealing to me, because we're not going to win that debate unless people change their minds and think it through."

Romney has vetoed bills that authorized embryo farming, therapeutic cloning, and access to emergency contraception without parental consent. He is a critic of liberal judges who legislate from the bench, and he says he would like to see the court return the abortion issue to the people to decide.

"President Bush has done a fine job in bringing to the Supreme Court Justice [John] Roberts and Justice [Sam] Alito," Romney says. "Those are exactly the kind of individuals you'd hope would come to the bench."

Olympics Hero

Romney saved the 2002 Winter Olympics from bankruptcy

In 1998, Utah state leaders approached Romney about taking over the scandal-ridden 2002 Winter Olympics. More than $1 million in bribes had been paid to members of the International Olympic Committee organizers. Before the scandal erupted, the Salt Lake Olympics Organizing Committee (SLOC) had a projected shortfall of $397 million.

Romney accepted the position and asked Fraser Bullock, one of the seven original partners of Bain Capital, to become his chief operating officer.

Romney traveled all over the world to gather support, as he cut back on SLOC expenses. Without foundation, Woody Paige, a Denver Post columnist, blasted the Winter Olympics as a "massive Mormon marketing scheme."

With Romney at the helm, the games ended with a surplus of $56 million. The surplus money went to fund future Olympics.

It was during his busy days guiding the Olympics that Romney received a call from Barbara Anderson, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Limited Taxation.

"I know you're busy with the Olympics right now," said the message she left on his answering machine, "but when you get back please save the commonwealth."

It was Anderson's way of telling him she wanted him to run for governor.

"There was no one else on the horizon, and with the legislature almost entirely Democratic, we felt it was necessary to have a grown-up in the corner office," she says.

Erasing the Deficit

With the Olympics success under his belt, Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 on a platform of fiscal conservatism, promising to erase the state's $3 billion deficit.

As the new governor, Romney consolidated state agencies, cut employees, and closed what he called loopholes in the corporate tax code. He also tackled the most difficult public policy issue of all, health insurance.

With input from the Heritage Foundation, Romney came up with a way to provide universal health insurance by requiring that everyone buy coverage, just as drivers are required to buy car insurance. If they don't, they lose their personal exemption on their state income taxes and part of their state tax refund. The idea was that in a reformed marketplace, everyone has the responsibility to have health insurance - no more free riders.

For those who cannot afford coverage, Romney cobbled together funds from Medicaid and the state's free-care pool to make sure everyone is covered.

By merging individual and group plans, Romney covered more healthy individuals, lowering prices.

Of course, there are plenty of skeptics.

"I am very pessimistic that it will work," says Merrill Matthews Jr., director of the nonprofit Council for Affordable Health Insurance, based in Alexandria, Va. Matthews says employers might drop coverage if the state has a program, thereby increasing the number of uninsured. He also questions whether insurers will offer coverage at competitive rates.

Over time, the efficiencies Romney imposed on the health-care delivery system are expected to offset the additional $200 million needed from the state budget to finance the plan.

Romney likes to contrast his health-care plan with the one proposed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. "My plan is based on personal responsibility and allowing the free market to work in a more effective manner," he says. "Her approach was to build a large government bureaucracy and provide more controls to help the health-care system work."

He adds with a smile: "Perhaps the biggest difference between our two plans was that mine got passed, and hers didn't."

States such as Iowa, California, and New Jersey are looking into adopting the Massachusetts approach, and Bush is pushing other states to look into it. To conservatives who bristle at the idea of an imposed plan, Romney says, "The key factor that some of my libertarian friends forget is that today, everybody who doesn't have insurance is getting free coverage from government."

As governor, Romney did not go unscathed in the heavily Democratic state of Massachusetts.

Democrats like Massachusetts Senate President Robert E. Travaglini criticized Romney for opposing state funding of stem-cell research. Travaglini says Romney took conservative stands in order to improve his chances of winning the GOP nomination for president.

"He started running for president the day he was elected to office," echoes Philip W. Johnson, chairman of the state Democratic Party.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi assailed Romney for failing to deliver on his promise that he would attract new jobs to the state. In fact, while Romney was in office, the unemployment rate fell from 5.7 percent to 4.9 percent.

Romney wasn't able to accomplish all that he hoped, due to opposition from the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. For example, Romney discovered that collecting tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike cost 30 cents for every $1 collected, in part because the toll collectors' union contract, which gives the collectors an average $56,300 a year in wages plus $9,880 in benefits. The Massachusetts legislature did not want to take on the union and lose a source of political patronage, however.

Romney's bottom line in Massachusetts: He erased the budget deficit he inherited when he took over, just as he'd done with the Olympics.

When Romney left office on Jan. 4, 2006, the Bay State had a balanced budget plus a "rainy day fund" - all without ever raising taxes.

The Mormon Factor

On Oct. 26, 2006, Romney met with 15 evangelical leaders at his home in Belmont. The meeting was set up by Mark DeMoss, son of the late billionaire Arthur DeMoss. A public relations consultant, DeMoss represents many evangelicals. The attendees included Gary Bauer, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, and the pastors from several evangelical megachurches, such as Paula White of Without Walls International Church, based in Tampa, Fla.

"Our discussion was open and frank," says Richard Land, who heads the policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"Evangelicals know that they're not electing a theologian in chief, but a commander in chief. If they agree with Romney on social issues, his Mormonism won't be a hindrance, especially if he's the only viable social conservative in the mix," he says.

Says Falwell: "There's no question that there are strong feelings about Mormonism. But we're not electing a Sunday school teacher, we're electing a president. I do not believe [Romney's] church affiliation will hinder his being a viable candidate among evangelicals." Mormons are fiscally and socially conservative, and 95 percent of them voted for Bush in the last election. Mormons consider themselves Christians, but many evangelicals disagree. For one thing, Mormons view Jesus Christ, the "Heavenly Father," and the Holy Spirit as three separate beings. They also believe Jesus visited North America after the resurrection.

In fact, the Southern Baptist Convention lists the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the Mormons - under "Cults and Sects."

"The term 'Christian' means different things to different people," Romney says. "And so I don't try and describe my faith in terms of categories. Instead I tell them what I believe. And I believe in God. I believe in marriage. I believe in family. I believe in helping people, in service and compassion. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and is my savior.

"But there are people of other faiths who don't believe that, and that's of course their right. But I don't try and describe my faith other than in terms of the fact that it has made me a better person than I would have been, and it has made my kids better than they would have been."

Of course, any religious beliefs sound strange to those who are not familiar with them. What matters most, Romney argues, is not his religious beliefs but his agenda for America.

Political Priorities

Romney emphasizes four priorities if elected president: defeating the jihadists, competing with Asia, stopping runaway spending, and affirming America's culture and values.

In his NewsMax interview, Romney says he wants to see more money devoted to stopping the next terrorist plot through additional funding for the FBI and CIA. In running the Olympics, he became heavily involved in security issues to make the event safe, says David M. Tubbs, a former FBI agent who was in charge of security at the games.

"Fundamentally, the most important thing you can do to secure this homeland is to keep a bomb from going off," Romney points out. "And the only way you can do that effectively is through intelligence work and counterterrorism. And that means more FBI agents, more careful screening, more tracking of people who represent potential threats."

The FBI has only about 4,000 agents working counterterrorism, compared to New York City's 40,000 police officers.

Romney also favors a tougher immigration policy, investing in technology, extending health insurance to all Americans, achieving energy independence, and improving education by measuring progress and "making teaching a true profession."

He has staked out more conservative positions than Giuliani and McCain on immigration policy and abortion. As governor, he decided that 30 state troopers should be trained to arrest illegal immigrants in the state.

On another bedrock issue for conservatives, he believes McCain was on the wrong side. "He voted against the Bush tax cuts," Romney points out. "I was in favor of the Bush tax cuts."

While Romney has generally supported Bush, he criticizes his creation of the Medicare drug prescription benefit without finding ways to pay for it.

Promising to build "a new American dream," Romney formally announced his candidacy on Feb. 13 at the Henry Ford Museum in his home state of Michigan. He cast himself as an optimistic and forward-thinking Washington outsider with the experience and vision to lead the country into a new age.

With former Virginia Sen. George Allen out of the race, Romney stands as the clear conservative alternative to McCain and Giuliani. Overwhelmingly, Republican insiders believe that Giuliani cannot win the nomination because of his liberal stance on social issues like abortion and gays, and that McCain will never excite the party's base.

'Spectacular Candidate'

In the make-or-break caucus state of Iowa, a majority of Republican county chairmen who responded to queries from Roll Call in January said the one presidential candidate who is exciting the base is Romney.

Romney's fans range from Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review Online, to Ann Coulter, to talk-show host Laura Ingraham. While governor of Florida, Jeb Bush gave his blessing to key staffers to migrate to the Romney camp.

Grover Norquist notes that Romney was the first major candidate to sign Americans for Tax Reform's pledge to oppose any effort to raise marginal income tax rates. Norquist says Romney is moving to "place himself dead center of the Reagan coalition." If he succeeds, Norquist says,"He will be the strongest candidate for the nomination."

When asked which Republican candidate she fears the most, Donna Brazile - who managed Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign - replies, "Mitt Romney." Asked whether Romney's religion will hurt him, Ted Kennedy said recently, "The answer is no. We've moved on. That died with my brother Jack."

Romney is "a spectacular candidate," says Republican strategist Mary Matalin, a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. "He is methodical, and he's definitely got the happy warrior thing. He's substantive, and he's got executive skills. And he's 21st century, too." Romney's Mormon religion will turn out to be a plus, she says, because people "like that have a source of strength."

In addition to his strong base among influential Mormons, Romney can tap into his immense business network for the race that counts in the primaries: raising money. By the end of last December, political action committees affiliated with Romney had raised $8.75 million.

In one day, Jan. 8, Romney raised another $6.5 million for his exploratory committee by enlisting contacts such as Whitman of eBay. The effort was dubbed the "National Call Day" and employed a telemarketing operation armed with new software designed exclusively for the Romney campaign.

Romney says that while he has a great deal of respect for Sen. McCain and former mayor Giuliani, there are major differences between them.

Unlike McCain and Giuliani, Romney says. "I have worked in the world of employers and employees for all of my career. I understand what makes us more competitive as a nation, what makes us less competitive. I know why jobs grow and why they're eliminated."

Romney said he is "very concerned about the America that my grandkids will enjoy, and your grandkids will enjoy. It can be a stronger, more vibrant nation, or it can become the France of the 21st century - starting off as the economic superpower, military superpower, ending still a great nation, but not the world's superpower. The choices we make today will determine whether America is a more prosperous and secure place for our grandchildren. I can help do that."

Among former presidents, Romney admires Dwight D. Eisenhower. Besides taking on communism, "He was a person whose leadership during World War II made him someone the entire nation revered and respected," Romney says. "And there's nothing wrong with having heroes in positions of prominence."

Having rescued the commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Winter Olympics, Bain & Co., and his partner's daughter, Romney could well be talking about himself.

Ronald Kessler, chief Washington correspondent of NewsMax, can be contacted by going here. Pamela Kessler contributed to this article.

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Ronald Kessler - Archived Articles

Ronald Kessler - Archived Articles

GOP Insiders: Bloomberg Helps Us	Thursday, June 21, 2007
Bay Buchanan: Hillary Clinton is Dangerous to Civil Liberties	Monday, June 18, 2007
Liberals See Mormons as People of Faith on Steroids	Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Gupta Mum on InfoUSA Controversy	Friday, June 8, 2007
Gupta's InfoUSA Pays Pelosi's Son	Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Ann Romney: Mitt Has Always Been Pro-Life	Tuesday, May 22, 2007
FBI's Mueller: Bin LadenWants to Strike U.S. Cities with Nuclear Weapons	Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Mitt Romney Rises to the Top	Monday, May 14, 2007
Tenet's Party; Romney's Sons; McCain Contradicts Himself	Wednesday, May 9, 2007
McCain is Finished, Head of Conservative Union Says	Sunday, May 6, 2007
George Tenet Contradicts Himself	Thursday, May 3, 2007
Dick Cheney's Real Role	Wednesday, May 2, 2007
George Tenet's New Revelations: Pollard, India and Iraq	Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Andy Card on George Tenet's Book	Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Dana Perino: Press Job Like Herding Cattle	Monday, April 30, 2007
Fred Thompson Not the Energizer Bunny; Secret Service	Thursday, April 26, 2007
George Tenet Targets Cheney, Clinton in New Book	Monday, April 23, 2007
Bush Letters Among Most Prized by Collectors	Wednesday, April 18, 2007
GOPAC Is Back	Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Michael Steele Hits McCain Over Imus Remark	Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Rudy's Bizarre Behavior	Monday, April 9, 2007
Federal Watch List Has 400,000 Names	Monday, April 9, 2007
Pelosi Is Our Neville Chamberlain	Friday, April 6, 2007
Romney to the Rescue	Sunday, April 1, 2007
Secret Service Plagued by Mismanagement	Tuesday, March 27, 2007
McCain Fund-Raising Falls Short	Monday, March 26, 2007
White House Morale Has Plummeted	Wednesday, March 21, 2007
FBI Problems Are Overblown	Tuesday, March 13, 2007
War College Professors Warn Against Iraq Pullout	Thursday, March 8, 2007
McCain's Snub Stuns Conservatives	Monday, March 5, 2007
Gen. Petraeus to Outline Progress in Iraq	Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007
Bush Camp Supports Romney	Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007
Little-Known NGA Hunts Bin Laden	Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007
Liberals Have 'Hijacked' Psychiatrists	Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007
George Allen Mulls Governor Run	Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007
Jim Cramer Says Media Engage in 'Fakery'	Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007
Dick Morris Plans to 'Run' Against Hillary	Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007
Bush Speech to Challenge Iraq Critics, Call for Energy Independence	Monday, Jan. 22, 2007
Vanity Fair Tiptoes Around McCain's Acerbic Temper	Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007
One More Deep Throat Rendezvous	Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007
HUD Secretary Attacks Black Victimhood	Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007
Woodward Has Scoop on Ford Presidency	Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006
Jeb Bush Won't Rule Out Presidency	Monday, Dec. 11, 2006
Karl Rove: Bush Back to Basics	Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006
The Real Donald Trump	Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006
Condi Rice Takes Up Golf	Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006
Lynne Cheney Earns $1 Million for Charity	Monday, Nov. 20, 2006
Mary Matalin Calls Election 'Last Gasp of Liberals'	Friday, Nov. 17, 2006
Bob Gates' Brushes With Controversy	Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006
Bush Policies Will Not Change	Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006
Election About Stopping The Next 9/11	Monday, Nov. 6, 2006
GOP Holds Senate, Bush Campaign Director Says	Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006
Karl Rove's Dream: Kerry's October Surprise	Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006
Democrats Threaten Patriot Act	Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006
GOP Keeps Senate, Loses House, Betting Site Says	Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006
Juan Williams Called 'Black Ann Coulter'	Friday, Oct. 20, 2006
RNC's Ken Mehlman: GOP Can Hold Congress	Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006
Page Scandal Goes Deeper	Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006
Brazile Spread Rumor About Former President Bush	Monday, Oct. 9, 2006
Hastert: Scandal Is 'October Surprise'	Friday, Oct. 6, 2006
Margaret Spellings: Media Star	Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006
Andy Card Denies Woodward Claim	Monday, Oct. 2, 2006
5,000 Terrorists Rolled Up: Hayden	Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006
Gen. Hayden Moves to Unify CIA	Monday, Sept. 25, 2006
Karl Rove Promises October Surprise	Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006
Faith-Based Programs Receive $2.2 Billion	Monday, Sept. 18, 2006
Bush's CIA Critic Claim Exposed as Untrue	Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006
Townsend: Bush 'Transformed' Fight Against Terror	Monday, Sept. 11, 2006
Iraq Vet: Pullout Ratifies bin Laden's View	Friday, Sept. 8, 2006
GOP Wins If Election Held Today	Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006
John McCain's Temper Preceded Vietnam	Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006
Ransom Note Fits Profile of Patsy Ramsey	Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006
Can Karl Rove Pull It Off?	Monday, Aug. 28, 2006
An American MI5 Is The Wrong Approach	Monday, Aug. 21, 2006
New White House P.R. Pro: Who is Kevin Sullivan?	Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006
NCTC: Dozens of Terrorist Plots Pinpointed Daily	Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006
NCTC Says 9/11 Anniversary Attacks Unlikely	Monday, Aug. 14, 2006
Disrupted Terror Plot Was Homegrown	Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006
Clay Johnson III: The President's Close Friend	Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006
Advice to Mel Gibson: Enough Already	Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006
Andy Card: I Have Seen John McCain's Anger	Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2006
Andy Card: New York Times, Media Have Harmed Security	Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006
Andy Card: Bush Wanted Woman on High Court	Monday, July 31, 2006
Juan Williams Assails 'Phony' Black Leaders	Thursday, July 27, 2006
The Media War Against the Bush Administration	Saturday, July 22, 2006
FBI Investigating 10,000 Terrorism Cases	Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Bush Team Raises $189 Million for Nov. Elections	Friday, July 14, 2006
Washington's Big Secret	Monday, July 10, 2006
McCain's Out-of-Control Anger: Does He Have the Temperament to Be President?	Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Iraq Withdrawal Talk 'Hurts' U.S. Military	Monday, July 3, 2006
Grover Norquist Accuses Sen. McCain of 'Lying,' Says Report 'Dishonest'	Tuesday, June 27, 2006
'President' Trump: Leave Iraq ASAP	Friday, June 23, 2006
Reporters Overrun Media With 'Desire to Destroy'	Wednesday, June 21, 2006
The Real Culprit in the CIA Leak Case	Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Analysis: CEO Bush Just Wants Results	Monday, June 19, 2006
Karl Rove's Touch	Friday, June 16, 2006
First Daughter Barbara Bush to Join New York Museum	Friday, June 16, 2006
Bush Twin in N.Y., W's Library to SMU, Bike Riding	Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Ken Mehlman's Voter Vault	Monday, June 12, 2006
Laura Bush: The President's Stealth Counselor	Monday, May 1, 2006