Candidate #2: Willard "Mitt" Romney
Background: Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan. His father George was a successful businessman and chairman of American Motors Corporation. He went on to be governor of Michigan from 1963-1969, and ran for President in 1968. His mother was a Michigan candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970. Romney is a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, or, Mormonism. He was a Mormon missionary in France for two and a half years after leaving Stanford University after two quarters. He married Ann Romney after returning from his missionary work in 1969 and both attended Brigham Young University; Mitt later attended Harvard Business and Law School, completing his formal education. He was vice president of the Boston firm Bain & Company, Inc. for several years before co-founding Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. His investments yielded 113% annually, and he invested in or bought out many companies such as Staples, Brookstone, Domino's, Sealy Corporation and Sports Authority. He later returned to Bain & Company where as CEO he completely turned around the company. In 1999, he took over the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee and turned that around as well, saving the Olympics from bankruptcy by turning a near $400 million dollar deficit into a $100 million surplus. After the Olympics he ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and held the position from 2003 to 2007, when he decided to run for President.
Education: He attended Stanford University before his missionary work in France. Afterwards, at Brigham Young University, he earned his B.A. and was valedictorian, graduating summa cum laude. He graduated cum laude with a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.
Political History: His first foray into politics was in 1994 where he ran against incumbent Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts for a U.S. Senate seat. It was Kennedy’s greatest challenge as senator further hampered by an anti-Democratic party trend in 1994, but Romney was soundly defeated in the election by a margin of 58%-41%. Fresh from his work at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Romney was “drafted” by the Massachusetts Republican party to replace unpopular and scandal-ridden Jane Swift. Helped by the efficiency he instilled in the Olympic turnaround, Romney won the election by a 50%-45% margin. He chose not to run for reelection in 2006 and entered the 2008 Presidential race in early 2007.
The Issues
Foreign Policy
Iraq
Romney believes in staying in Iraq as long as success is a possibility but thinks that President Bush gave inane reasons to invade. He believes that if Iraq is left unstable it would cause chaos within the country and neighboring countries: the Kurds would destabilize Turkey, Iran would swallow the Shia region, and the Sunni region would become an al-Qaeda base. He supported the 2007 troop surge and believes that those troops should be kept in the region as support based from Kuwait. He has said that if a withdrawal is planned it should be kept secret between the U.S. and Iraqi governments. He does not believe policy should change in step with polls.
Iran
Romney believes that in response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments on Israel the Secretary-General should present an indictment under the Genocide Convention for threats against Israel, and that failure to act should lead the United States to reconsider its level of support and funding for the United Nations. He has stated that he wants stronger sanctions on Iran.
General Middle-East
Romney has said that he wants to make alliances with nations to help with modernization and decrease the risk that they might fall into a “jihadist state.” He has not ruled out the possibility of attacking al-Qaeda in Pakistan, and believes that sensitive plans such as these must be kept secret. He believes in forming “Special Partnership Forces” to fight terrorism. These would be made up of SEALs and Delta Force agents, and they would give assistance or humanitarian aid. SPFs would be in countries with the permission of the host government to lead operations against terrorists.
Other
He wants to double the size of the Guantanomo Bay prison and wishes to keep interrogation techniques secret for security purposes but wishes to use only “enhanced interrogation,” not torture. Romney has expressed desires to free Cuba and eliminate the threat of Hugo Chavez and the like in order to foster a Latin America inclined to align itself with the U.S. through economic ties. He believes in strengthening alliances with strained nations like France and Germany so that a united front can be maintained against global jihad.
Immigration
Mitt Romney wishes to increase legal immigration while stifling illegal immigration. He believes that illegal aliens should go home eventually, but has supported Z visa plans to allow them to stay as well. He has stated that he is against amnesty but advocates a pathway to citizenship through application and paying back taxes. He believes in issuing a tamper proof national ID card for non-citizens. He has been often accused of allowing “sanctuary cities” to go unpunished while he has criticized rival Rudy Giuliani about turning New York City into one. He has also accused other candidates of amnesty or supporting benefits like tuition for illegal aliens. In his last month of office Romney signed an executive order that allowed police to arrest people based on federal immigration violations.
Economy
Budget
Romney has said he wants to fundamentally change Washington by cutting spending and eliminating "pork". He often has cited his ability to balance the Massachusetts deficit of $1.2 billion and raise a surplus of $700 million. He wants to institute a line-item veto to help cut pork as well as giving the President the discretion to cut funding passed by Congress by 20%. He supports the idea of an amendment to the Constitution requiring a balanced budget.
Taxes/Minimum Wage
He wants lower taxes for everyone, lower corporate taxes, no taxes on middle class savings, making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and a law requiring a 60% vote to raise taxes. He wants an end to taxes on interests, dividends & capital gains. During his governorship, he did raise fees but only to cover their cost. He has signed an anti-tax pledge for no new taxes or increases in existing taxes. He supports moderate increases in the minimum wage instead of large hikes every once in a while.
Energy/Technology
Romney has advocated plans to pursue nuclear power and liquefied coal as energy sources. He believes alternative energy and drilling in ANWR in Alaska is the key to end dependence on foreign oil. He also believes in a general investment in research in cleaner energy sources. He also wants part of energy to be energy security to help U.S. energy interests.
Free Trade
He believes in free trade but thinks that deals must be renegotiated—especially with China. Romney thinks measures should be taken to improve the U.S.’s position or Asian economies will overtake the U.S.
Social Issues
Healthcare
Romney plans to encourage states to decrease insurance regulation to lower costs as well as giving states full freedom on how to spend Medicaid dollars. He would also make all expenses tax deductible and increase competition to lower cost and raise quality.
Environment
As governor he chose to promote public health over dirty power plants that could harm people. He believes in producing cleaner alternative energy to help the environment and get the U.S. off of foreign oil.
Education
He believes in making students competitive globally by focusing on math and science. At one point he desired to abolish the Education Department but now says he would expand and enhance the No Child Left Behind Act. He believes in a voucher system and support for home-schoolers. He believes in merit pay for teachers. He supports replacing struggling schools with charter schools.
Crime
He believes in the death penalty and three strikes laws. He also has advocated a one strike plan in which criminals would be tracked with a GPS after one felony. He wishes to reform sentencing and appeal lenient sentences.
Other Issues
Gun Control
He supports the NRA and the second amendment but supports the assault weapons ban to protect police from heavy weaponry.
Drugs
He does not support any legalization of marijuana and wishes to take the fight to the Central American “narco-terrorists.”
Abortion
He supported abortion rights as governor, but now is in opposition to the Roe v. Wade ruling.
Homosexuality
He has allowed gay partner benefits but has recently taken a stance opposing gay marriage and civil union and would welcome a ban.
Family
He believes that family is a pillar of America along with economy and military, and he has said that each child deserves a father and mother. He believes in teaching family values in schools but not necessarily religion.
Strengths: He is viewed as the ideal fiscal candidate to deal with the budget and the economy due to his business background. He has turned around a state, the Olympics, and several businesses. He cites bipartisanship by his work as a Republican governor of a liberal state like Massachusetts. He is strong on defense as well as building alliances for defense.
Weaknesses: He has changed his positions on several issues over the years although he says this is due to experience, but this weakness undermined John Kerry in 2004. Some dislike him because of his Mormon beliefs.
Political Claim to Fame
He spearheaded the sometimes called "miraculous" turnaround of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and then turned around the fiscal crisis as governor of Massachusetts. He is also from a family of Washington and state politicians. People began to speculate his presidential run in 2004.
2008 Election
He started running in early 2007 and was one of the original two front runners—him and Rudy Giuliani. His strategy has focused heavily on early states and he quickly opened up leads in Iowa and New Hampshire. His leads began to slip as the year wore on. He finished second in both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. He won the Wyoming caucus, the Michigan primary, and Nevada caucus before finishing fourth in South Carolina. He is currently in first with 72 delegates as of January 20, 2008.
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