Mitt Romney

The 2008 presidential race has the potential to produce the first female president or the first African-American. It might yet produce the first Mormon: Mitt Romney.

It will be difficult. In this hugely religious country, there is widespread prejudice against Mormons. Polls suggest that Romney's faith will cost him votes.

But Romney is used to political challenges; indeed, he seeks them out. Intent on entering politics in 1994, he stood as a Republican for the Senate in one of the most unwinnable seats in the US: Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts base. Although he failed, he came closer than any other Republican that Kennedy has had to face since the 1960s, cutting the margin to a respectable 17 percentage points. He returned in 2002 to stand again in seemingly staunchly Democratic Massachusetts, this time as governor. Romney, reflecting on this later, said: "Being a conservative Republican in Massachusetts is a bit like being a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention." But he won, taking 50% of the votes to the Democratic candidate's 45%. If the Republican party values victory over the Democrats more than a candidate's religion, it could yet turn to Romney over either John McCain or Rudy Giuliani.

On the day that Romney announced - against the backdrop of the propellers of a plane at the Henry Ford museum in Michigan - that he intended to seek the Republican nomination, US political analysts put him in third place behind Giuliani and McCain. But there was a consensus among them that if it was a matter of image, then Romney - telegenic, smooth and confident - would easily jump into first place.

He has several advantages over McCain. He is 11 years younger, does not carry the baggage of consistent and high-profile support for the Iraq war and has history on his side: most recent presidents are former governors rather than senators. And, as a former businessman who made a lot of money, he will have little problem in matching them in funding: what he does not raise, he can supply himself. He spent $7m (£3.5m) of his own money to fight Ted Kennedy and over $6m to win the governorship. He is the only presidential hopeful in either party so early in the campaign to have paid substantial amounts for political advertising, an expensive option.

Born in Detroit in 1947, he came from a political family. His father, George, was governor of Michigan and served in the Nixon administration, while his mother made an unsuccessful attempt to unseat a liberal senator in the same state.

Before going to university, he spent two-and-a-half years in France as a Mormon missionary, for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints of France. To those uneasy about the religion, he insists it is a form of Christianity and that there are lots of misconceptions about it, not least that it sanctions polygamy. He has only one wife, five sons and lots of grandchildren.

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, he said: "The practice of polygamy is abhorrent. It's awful, and it drives me nuts that people who are polygamists keep pretending to use the umbrella of my church. My church abhors it, it excommunicates people who practice it, and it's got nothing to do with my faith."

After university, he joined an investment company and later helped set up a highly successful venture capital firm. His profitable moves included a takeover of Domino's Pizza.

Having failed to beat Kennedy for a senate seat in 1994, he was approached five years later to help restore stability to the scandal-ridden Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. He said later that part of his motivation had been to help repair the damage done to the image of Utah, home to the headquarters of the Mormon church. He was president and chief executive of the winter games, which were generally judged to have been a success.

From there he went to Massachusetts, and again was successful, working alongside the Democratic-controlled legislature. He apparently helped balance the budget, though there are Massachusetts Democrats who will dispute this, and pushed through a form of mandatory health insurance for all residents.

He opted to leave after one term, freeing himself up for the presidential run this year. He does not see his faith as a liability in the race. Washington-based political analysts tend to agree with him, saying those polled may respond negatively to the general idea of a Mormon but when asked about a specific individual, such as Mr Romney, much of that disapproval will disappear.

More problematic could be his conversion from seeming liberalism - or at least tolerance of liberal views - while fighting for election in Massachusetts to social conservatism for the presidential nomination campaign. On abortion, one of the key tests for the Christian right and many Republicans, he says: "I am firmly pro-life." This is the same politician who said when running for office in Massachusetts: "I believe women should have the right to make their own choice."

Socially conservative Republicans would normally shun such opportunism but Romney may still seem preferable to figures such as Giuliani, who is genuinely liberal on social issues.

On what could turn out to be the key issue of the 2008 campaign, Iraq, Romney, like most Republicans, expresses support for the president's strategy. Polls suggest that more than 60% of Republicans still back George Bush on the war. But, unlike McCain, who is in the Senate, where his votes are on record, and who has been a vocal supporter of the war, Romney has adopted a more nuanced approach. He mixes support for the war with criticism of the intelligence failures and the human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib. That nuanced approach may prove decisive when Republicans go to the primaries early in 2008.

Life and times


Born: March 12 1947 in Detroit, Michigan

Family: Married to Ann, with children Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig

Education: Graduated from Brigham Young University in 1971 and earned a joint JD/MBA from Harvard in 1975

Career: Romney spent decades in management consulting, and became CEO of Bain & Company in 1990. In 1999 he left to organise the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. In 2002 he was elected as governor of Massachusetts, but did not seek re-election in 2006

Religion: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)

Campaign manager: Beth Myers

Political director: Carl Forti

Media consultant: Alex Castellanos

Pollster: Jan van Lohuizen

National finance director: Spencer Zwick

Website:
mittromney.com


MySpace:
myspace.com/mittromney