Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and former Governor of Massachusetts. Romney was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Romney was CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. After his business career Romney was elected the 70th Governor of Massachusetts in 2002. Romney served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term expired January 4, 2007.

Romney was born in Detroit, Michigan, and is the son of former Michigan Governor, American Motors chairman and 1968 presidential candidate George W. Romney, and 1970 Michigan U.S. Senatorial candidate Lenore Romney. He was named "Willard" after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend. Mitt, his middle name, was the nickname of his father's cousin Milton Romney, who played quarterback for the Chicago Bears from 1925 to 1929. Mitt Romney has three older siblings: Lynn Romney Keenan; Jane Romney Robinson; and G. Scott Romney.

Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1965. After attending Stanford University for two quarters, Romney served in France for 30 months as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Subsequently, Romney attended Brigham Young University, where he graduated as valedictorian, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in English in 1971. Romney received a ministerial deferment from the military draft while in France, and three years of deferments while a student. When he became eligible for military service in 1970, his high number in the annual draft lottery meant he would not be drafted.

In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He graduated cum laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.

After graduation, Romney remained in Massachusetts and went to work for the Boston Consulting Group, where he had interned during the summer of 1974. From 1978 to 1984, Romney was a vice president of Bain & Company, Inc., another management consulting firm based in Boston. In 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found a spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital. During the 14 years he headed the company, Bain Capital's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent, making money primarily through leveraged buyouts. He invested in or bought many well-known companies such as Staples, Brookstone, Domino's, Sealy Corporation and Sports Authority.

In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse. As CEO, Romney managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while increasing fiscal transparency. Within a year, he had led Bain & Company through a highly successful turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without layoffs or partner defections.

Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. He and his wife have a net worth of between 250 and 500 million USD, not including Romney's blind trust in the name of their children, which is valued at about $100 million.

Romney served as president and CEO of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games held in Salt Lake City. In 1999, before Romney was hired, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks. Plans were being made to scale back the games in order to compensate for the fiscal crisis. The Games were also damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials, including then Salt Lake Olympic Committee (SLOC) President and CEO Frank Joklik. Joklik and SLOC vice president Dave Johnson were forced to resign.

On February 11, 1999, Romney was hired as the new president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets, and boosted fund raising. He also worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by coordinating a $300 million security budget. Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million, not counting the $224.5 million in security costs contributed by outside sources.

Romney contributed $1 million to the Olympics, and donated the $825,000 salary he earned as President and CEO to charity. He wrote a book about his experience titled Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games.

In 1994, Romney won the Massachusetts Republican Party's nomination for U.S. Senate after defeating businessman John Lakian in the primary. Some early polls showed Romney close to Senator Ted Kennedy. One Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994 primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error. Kennedy, who typically faced only "token" GOP opposition for his senate seat was more vulnerable than usual in 1994, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Ted Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. President Bill Clinton traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy.

After Romney touted his business credentials and his record at creating jobs within his company, Kennedy ran campaign ads showing an Indiana company bought out by Romney's firm, Bain Capital, and interviews with its union workers who had been fired and criticized Romney for the loss of their jobs, one saying, "I don’t think Romney is creating jobs because he took every one of them away." Romney claimed that 10,000 jobs were created because of his work at Bain, but private detectives hired by Kennedy found a factory bought by Bain Capital that had suffered a 350-worker strike after Bain had cut worker pay and benefits. Although both Kennedy and Romney supported the abortion rights established under Roe v. Wade, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice." Romney is now pro-life and opposes Roe. According to figures in The Almanac of American Politics 1996, which relies on official campaign finance reports, Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein vs. Michael Huffington Senate race in California). In a September poll, Romney had a 43% to 42% lead. A month later, however, Kennedy led in the polls 50% to 32. Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent, the second smallest margin in Kennedy's nine elections to the Senate through 2006.

In 2002, Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift was expected to campaign for the governor's office. Swift had served as acting governor after Republican Governor Paul Cellucci resigned upon being appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Swift was viewed as an unpopular executive, and her administration was plagued by political missteps and personal scandals. Many Republicans viewed her as a liability and considered her unable to win a general election against a Democrat. Prominent GOP activists campaigned to persuade Romney to run for governor. One poll taken at this time showed that Republicans favored Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points. Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination.

Massachusetts Democratic Party officials claimed that Romney was ineligible to run for governor, citing residency issues. The Massachusetts Constitution requires seven consecutive years of residency prior to a run for office. Romney claimed residency in Utah from 1999 to 2002, during his time as president of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee. In 1999 he listed himself as a part-time Massachusetts resident. The Massachusetts Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission, which eventually ruled that Romney was eligible to run for office. The ruling was not challenged in court.

Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially his success with the 2002 Olympics, as that of one who would be able to bring a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics. Romney contributed $6.3 million to his own campaign during the election, a state record at the time. Romney was elected Governor in November 2002 with 50 percent of the vote over Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien, who received 45 percent of the vote.

Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003. Upon entering office, Romney faced a projected $3 billion deficit, but a previously enacted $1.3 billion capital gains tax increase and $500 million in unanticipated federal grants decreased the deficit to $1.2 billion. Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes, by 2006 the state had a $700 million surplus and was able to cut taxes.

Romney supported raising various fees by more than $300 million, including raising fees for driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and gun licenses. Romney increased the state gasoline tax by 2 cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional tax revenue. Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years. The state legislature, with Romney's support, also cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns. The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led state-run colleges and universities to increase tuition by 63%. Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as Massachusetts governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget. All of those vetoes were overturned by the legislature.

The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship. According to the Tax Foundation, that per capita burden was 9.8% in 2002 (below the national average of 10.3%), and 10.5% in 2006 (below the national average of 10.8%).

At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions. Faced with the dilemma of choosing between same-sex marriage or civil unions after the November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing same-sex marriages (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health), Romney reluctantly backed a state constitutional amendment in February 2004 that would have banned same-sex marriage but still allow civil unions, viewing it as the only feasible way to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. In May 2004 Romney instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but citing a 1913 law that barred out-of-state residents from getting married in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home state, no marriage licenses were to be issued to out-of-state same-sex couples not planning to move to Massachusetts. In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that the amendment confused voters who oppose both same-sex marriage and civil unions. Instead, Romney endorsed a petition effort led by the Coalition for Marriage & Family that would have banned same-sex marriage and made no provisions for civil unions. In 2006 he urged the U.S. Senate to vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Amendment.

On December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor. Romney filed papers to establish a formal exploratory presidential campaign committee the next to last day in office as governor. This solidified suspicions that had been circulating as early as 2005 that Romney would attempt to run for President. Romney's term ended January 4, 2007.

Since the 2004 Republican National Convention, Romney had been discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate. On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to register a presidential campaign exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission. Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007.

In the January 2008 Iowa Caucus, the first contest of the primary elections, Romney received 25% of the vote and placed second to Mike Huckabee, who received 34%. A few days later, Romney won the Wyoming Republican Caucuses. Romney finished in second place behind John McCain in the New Hampshire primary on January 8, 2008. In the January 15 Michigan primary, Romney won with 39% of the vote, followed by McCain (30%), Huckabee (16%), and others. On January 19, Romney won the Nevada caucuses, but placed fourth in the South Carolina primary. Romney then came in second behind John McCain in the Florida primary on January 29, and came in first ahead of John McCain in the Maine caucuses on February 2, giving McCain an overall 97-92 lead over Romney in delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention. According to US election polls, going into Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney led in California (40% - 32% John McCain), Massachusetts (55% - 23%), Colorado (43% - 24%), and Utah (65% - 6%). McCain led in 12 states and was 21 points ahead of Romney in national polls.

Romney partly financed his campaign with his own personal fortune, contributing over $35 million of the $90 million raised by his campaign, as of December 31, 2007.

Romney won 11 states primaries and caucuses, 4.2 million votes and 291 delegates, although he would have likely won more had he not ended his campaign early.

Romney decided not to seek donations to recover the $45 million in personal loans he made to his campaign. Instead, the loans are to be reclassified as contributions by Romney. The Romney committee raised approximately $65 million from individual donors during the primary campaign.

Romney endorsed McCain for President at a press conference in Boston, Massachusetts on February 14, 2008, one week after suspending his campaign. He became one of the McCain Campaign's most visible surrogates, appearing on behalf of the GOP nominee at fundraisers, state Republican party conventions and on cable news programs. “There’s nobody who represents me better today than Mitt Romney," said John McCain of his former rival's efforts to promote his candidacy. Romney also launched the Free and Strong America PAC to assist conservative "officeholders and candidates who are dedicated to promoting public policies that will strengthen America at this critical time in our history." The political organization, which takes its name from a key line in Romney's 2007 Faith in America speech, supports local, state and federal candidates including Senator John McCain, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI).

Several newspapers have reported that Romney is paving the way for a 2012 Presidential campaign by hiring campaign staff and raising money for future political campaigns. However, Romney himself recently said that it was "unlikely" he would run for President again.

In February 2009, Romney delivered at speech at the annual CPAC convention. There he won the 2012 presidential straw poll with 20%, leading many to think that he may emerge as the front runner in the 2012 race.

Mitt Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, colloquially known as the Mormon church. He is the nephew of Marion G. Romney, who was Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. His great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, was among the first leaders in the Latter Day Saint movement in the early 19th century. Mitt’s wife Ann converted to the Church of Jesus Christ before they were married in 1969. In addition to his missionary work in France, Romney has served as a part-time lay minister, called a bishop, and has also been a stake president in his church (stake presidents preside over several congregations). As part of his religious practice, Romney abstains from alcohol and smoking.

Some of Mitt Romney's political positions have changed over the course of his political career. He says that he has learned from experience, and that people can rely on him to keep his campaign promises. As a candidate for the Republican nomination for President, Romney has increasingly expressed views in line with traditional conservatives on social issues.

Romney has been a strong supporter of gun control legislation and enforcement, backing the Brady Bill, a five-day waiting period on gun sales, and a ban on certain assault weapons, and he still backs the ban on assault weapons. Romney has also supported some legislation that was endorsed by the National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners' Action League. Romney also says he believes that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, rather than merely protecting a right of states.

Romney welcomes increased legal immigration and supports giving "a biometrically-enabled and tamperproof card to non-citizens and ... a national database for non-citizens" in order to reduce illegal immigration. Romney's lawn care company had illegal aliens working at his private residence for nearly a decade. Romney had them fired after the fact was revealed to him during his presidential campaign.

Romney is a proponent of monogamous, heterosexual marriage. As a candidate for governor in 2002, Romney said: "Call me old fashioned, but I don't support gay marriage nor do I support civil union." During that 2002 campaign, he also supported hate crimes legislation and opposed other discrimination against gays, while supporting some partner benefits for gays, and he also opposed amending the state constitution to codify only traditional marriage because he believed the draft amendment would have outlawed other partner benefits. When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of legalized same-sex marriage in 2003, Romney lobbied for a state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage but allow civil unions. Romney explained in 2005: "From day one I've opposed the move for same-sex marriage and its equivalent, civil unions....I am only supporting civil unions if gay marriage is the alternative." Romney continues to oppose both marriage and civil unions between people of the same sex. Romney's tone on gay rights has been viewed by some as fluctuating, though he supported Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy" in 1994, and continued to do so in 2007.

Romney supported the invasion of Iraq, and supports the "troop surge." Upon hearing the testimony of David Petraeus, Romney reemphasized his agreement with current policy in Iraq and has called for a "Surge of Support" for the military. Romney has called for increased military spending to at least 4 percent of the United States GDP and wishes to increase the size of the military by at least 100,000 troops.

Romney has focused on tax relief for "middle income Americans," and has advocated eliminating the capital gains tax for all those who earn less than $200,000 per year. Romney has also advocated eliminating the estate tax, signed a pledge to oppose "any and all efforts" to increase income taxes, and promises to control spending by Congress.

Romney supports the death penalty, charter schools, and sentencing under the three strikes law. Romney opposes the use of "torture"; however, he supports the limited use of "enhanced interrogation techniques," which he believes are not torture.

In June 1968, Romney was involved in a serious car accident while driving fellow missionaries in southern France. A Mercedes hit the Citroën DS Romney was driving; the fault for the accident, which left one person dead, has been attributed to the driver of the other vehicle.

Soon after his return from missionary work in France, Romney married high school girlfriend Ann Davies on March 21, 1969. They have five sons—Tagg, (b. 1970), Matt (b. 1971), Josh (b. 1975), Ben (b. 1978) and Craig (b. 1981)—and eleven grandchildren.

Their first son, Tagg, was born in 1970 while both were undergraduates at Brigham Young, living in a $75-a-month basement apartment. Ann Romney's work as a stay-at-home mom enabled her husband to pursue his career, first in business and then in politics.

Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. She is in remission and was active in his 2008 presidential campaign.

Mitt and Ann Romney have three homes, one in Belmont, Massachusetts in the Boston suburbs, a lakeside house in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and a ski house in Deer Valley, Utah.

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2002 Mitt Romney residency issue

During the 2002 Massachusetts governor’s race, one widely discussed issue was whether Republican Candidate Willard Mitt Romney was eligible to run for governor under the state constitution’s residency requirements.

Born and raised in Michigan and having graduated from college in Utah, Romney moved to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University to earn an M.B.A. and a J.D., graduating in 1975. He remained in Massachusetts until 1999, when he returned to Utah to take a job as of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in charge of planning the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics.

While Romney kept his house Belmont, Massachusetts after 1999, it is debatable whether that was his primary residence from then until 2002, as for most of that time he lived at house in Park City, Utah and worked there also.

Further complicating the issue was that in while living in Utah, Romney had filed taxes as a Utah resident, receiving a $54,000 tax break (reserved for the “primary residence” of Utah residents) on his $3.8 million home in Park City. Additionally, in 1999 his Massachusetts state tax return listed him as a part-time resident and his 2000 tax return listed him as a full-time Utah resident.

In April 2002, after returning to the state and deciding to run for governor, Romney altered his 1999 and 2000 tax returns, changing his residency status for those years to Massachusetts resident from Utah resident.

The residency question was first brought up by, then acting-governor, Jane Swift’s campaign but she did not pursue the issue after deciding not to run against Romney in the Republican primary.

Later in the campaign, some state Democrats picked up the issue over Romney’s eligibility and requested that the state ballot commission perform an investigation as to whether Romney met the requirements to run for governor. On June 25, the state ballot commission, (appointed by the Republican governor and consisting of 3 Republicans, 1 Democrat and 1 Independent) effectively ended the debate when it ruled that there was not enough evidence to show that Romney was ineligible to run for governor, and the State democratic party decided it was politically inopportune to contest the ruling in court.

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Public image of Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney's religious background has been extensively covered by the mainstream media, especially in connection with his 2008 presidential campaign. Mitt Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), more commonly known as Mormons.

In addition to missionary work in France in the 1960s under the tutelage of Wesley L. Pipes, Romney has served as a part-time lay minister, called a "bishop," and has also been a stake president in his church. In accordance with LDS doctrine, Mitt Romney received no compensation or money for his years of service as a bishop or stake president. As part of his religious belief, Romney abstains from alcohol and smoking.

Mitt Romney's great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, was among the first leaders of the LDS Church in the early 19th century. Marion George Romney, his first cousin, once removed, was an Apostle of LDS Church. Mitt Romney's father, George W. Romney, was a patriarch of LDS Church. Mitt's wife Ann converted to Mormonism before they were married in 1969.

Romney's paternal great-grandparents practiced plural marriage, and went to Mexico in 1884 after the 1878 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reynolds v. United States that upheld laws banning polygamy. Subsequent generations of Romney's paternal lineage have been monogamous, and none of his mother's Mormon ancestors appear to have been polygamists. Due to legal pressure by the U.S. federal government, the LDS church renounced polygamy in 1890. Mitt's father, George, was born in Mexico in 1907, and was brought to the United States in 1912 by Mitt's grandparents.

Mormonism was not an issue in his father's presidential campaign in 1968, for several possible reasons: he dropped out before it could become one, the candidacy of John F. Kennedy (a Catholic) had neutralized the religion issue, religion generally was not a major stump issue, and the LDS Church was much smaller then.

Mitt Romney was the third U.S. presidential candidate of the Mormon faith to have a high likelihood of achieving a major political party's nomination. The first of these three was Romney's own father, George W. Romney, a progressive on Civil Rights who was the savior of American Motors Corporation. George Romney, while governor of Michigan, stood in 1967 as a popular alternative to Richard M. Nixon for the Republican nomination.

The second was Mo Udall, the liberal Arizona congressman. He gained considerable support throughout the 1976 primary race as a rival to Jimmy Carter, who campaigned as a devout evangelical. During the latter part of Udall's campaign, Udall faced criticism from black activists concerning the fact that the church stated as Udall's religious affiliation, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, barred blacks from holding its lay priesthood. (This policy was changed in 1978.) In response to this criticism, Udall withdrew nominal affiliation with the denomination in 1976.

Differing from Udall, Mitt Romney is a social conservative. Paralleling Udall's rivalry with the outspokenly evangelical candidate Jimmy Carter, one of Romney's chief rivals in 2007 was also a self-professing evangelical and former Southern governor, Mike Huckabee.

Mitt Romney's delivered his "Faith in America" speech on December 6, 2007 at the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library, with an introduction by this former president. The speech, which was widely regarded as evoking that of then-Senator John F. Kennedy's September 1960 pledge not to allow Catholic doctrine to inform policy, discussed the role of religion in American society and politics.

Romney's speech gives primacy to the American Constitutional right of religious liberty, which produces cultural diversity and vibrancy of dialog. He called for public acknowledgments of God such as within Holidays religious displays. Romney said, "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.". He cited a religious nature to historic abolitionists' campaigns, the campaign for American Civil Rights, and the contemporary campaign for the Right to Life. Romney advocated maintenance of a separation of Church and State, stating that he, as president, would decline directives from churches' hierarchies, including that of the Mormon church.

Romney said while there are those who would prefer he indicated he holds his LDS faith merely as a tradition, actually he believes in his faith and tries to live according to its teachings, and while sacraments and confession of Romney's "church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths," he still holds Christ "the Son of God and Savior of mankind." Romney declined to address further the specifics of his Mormonism, incorrectly implying that any compulsion to do so would counter the Constitutional prohibition of a religion test for political office. Mitt Romney wrote the speech himself.

In the speech Romney said, “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” Some weeks later, the Romney campaign, when asked for the specifics, indicated this to have been an NAACP-sponsored procession in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, led by George W. Romney. However there are conflicting accounts as to whether King was present at this march.

While the speech received wide praise, Eugene Robinson has argued that Romney implied that non-religious people cannot be proper Americans, and called that assertion "a form of bigotry;" MSNBC's Keith Olbermann called the speech a "shameful and shameless self-comparison to the thirty-fifth president." Olbermann also noted that Romney called secularism a “religion”, only to then call it “wrong”, while ostensibly giving a speech on religious tolerance.

University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey R. Stone argues that America's Founding Fathers, as freethinkers whose ideals sprung more from the Enlightenment, were reacting to the pieties of Colonial-era Dissenters from Anglicanism (as arising from the Reformation/Counter-Reformation) more than they were expressing these pieties. Historian Jan Shipps finds Romney's reference to the Founders' piety as quintessentially Mormon.

On the Today show, Huckabee used Romney's speech as an opportunity to emphasize his own "authentic" views as did Fred Thompson in a radio interview in Iowa. Sen. John McCain acknowledged in an interview with ABC News, being locked up with atheist POWs, who, nevertheless, were 'patriots'.

On Fox News Sunday, Huckabee said it was inappropriate for voters to consider the tenets of Mormonism in judging Romney's candidacy, but rather should judge Romney on his record.

A video voting guide released in January 2008 by James Dobson's Focus on the Family reviews Romney favorably. Within the video, a public policy expert for the group, Tom Minnery, states his contention that Romney "has acknowledged that Mormonism is not a Christian faith." Minnery bases this contention on the quote from Romney's December speech on faith where Romney said "religions differ on their beliefs about Christ" and "each religion has its own unique doctrines." Minnery said he had spoken with the Romney campaign after posting the video and his contention was not contested nor was he asked for a retraction. "We've got a good relationship with them," he added. Meanwhile campaign spokesman Kevin Madden referred to Romney's faith speech to answer media inquiries as to whether the candidate believes himself a Christian.

Romney's family played a prominent role in his 2008 campaign for the U.S. presidency. Romney's father, George Romney, was also a Presidential candidate in 1968. Romney's five sons, were extremely visible on the campaign trail. Several anecdotes from the Romney family have appeared in a Boston Globe series of articles about Romney's life. One of the stories regarding Romney's treatment of the family dog during a family vacation in 1983 attracted some outrage from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals because Romney reportedly strapped the animal's kennel to the roof of a car for 12 hours.

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