Profile: Mitt Romney - The Mormon millionaire aiming to oust Obama

Published on Wednesday 4 January 2012 12:07

The former governor for Massachusetts is the perceived front-runner in the Republican race as successive challengers have fallen by the wayside. His narrow win in the Iowa caucus today consolidates his leading position.

The 64-year-old has in effect been running for the last five years, having failed to get the ticket last time around.

His main strengths are a good organisational structure and money, lots of it. Estimated to be in command of a personal wealth exceeding 200 million dollars, his team has access to the largest campaign fund - crucial in the primary stage.

On the downside, he is mistrusted by the Republican Party’s evangelical wing, due in part to his Mormon faith. In addition past positions on gay rights, abortion and healthcare during his time as governer have critics accusing him of flip-flopping on the issues and kowtowing to the right.

In 2008 Mr Romney lost the nomination race to Arizona Senator John McCain, but almost as soon as Barack Obama was installed in the White House, Romney was preparing his campaign for a second shot at the presidency.

Mr Romney comes from political stock. His father George Romney, one-time CEO of American Motors, was the Republican governer for Michigan and ran for the presidential nomination in 1968.

Before studying law and business at Harvard, Romney junior was a Mormon missionary in France for two years. His professional career began when he took a senior position in the Mormon church and joined a consulting firm in Boston called Bain and Company, where he quickly reached the position of chairman.

He has been married to wife Ann since 1969 and has five sons.

Mr Romney boosted his political profile in 1994 when he fought an ultimately unsuccessful battle to unseat Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy. His arrival on the national stage came in the early Noughties when, after having won praise for his running of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he was elected governor of Massachusetts.

Having seemingly learned from his last nomination struggle, Mr Romney has his sights on the president rather than his opponents this time round, and while he still has his doubters in the Republican party, many believe he is the candidate best placed to oust President Obama.

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Vandeerbrock

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 01:49 PM

#1 Sadly, you'll find that most churchers are secular, some more so than others. I think it's not helpful for a leader in nation to use the religion to influence political decisions. The truth about Obama is that privately, he isn't religious at all but obviously needs to pretend that he is in order appeal to voters.

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Livingstone's back!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 12:42 PM

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