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| Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and Republican political figure who was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003 to 2007). He ran for President of the United States in the 2008 election, and is a likely candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Romney is the son of George W. Romney (the former Governor of Michigan) and Lenore Romney. He was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and served as a Mormon missionary in France. He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University, then earned a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Romney entered the management consulting business which led to a position at Bain & Company, eventually serving as its CEO to lead it out of crisis. He was also co-founder and head of the spin-off company Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm which became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts but lost to incumbent Edward M. Kennedy. Romney organized and steered the 2002 Winter Olympics as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, and helped turn the troubled games into a financial success. Romney won the election for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, but did not seek reelection in 2006. During his term, he presided over a series of spending cuts and increases in fees while the state's finances improved. He signed into law the landmark Massachusetts health care reform legislation, which provided near-universal health insurance access via subsidies and state-level mandates. During the course of his political career, his positions or rhetorical emphasis shifted more towards American conservatism in several areas, though his stances on many other issues have been consistent; this process continued with Romney becoming a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In that contest, he won several caucuses and primaries but ultimately lost to John McCain. Since then he has published a book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, and also given speeches and raised campaign funds on behalf of fellow Republicans. Political observers and public opinion polls place him as a front-runner for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election. |