Dilma Vana Rousseff

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Dilma Vana Rousseff (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈd(ʒ)iwmɐ ˈvɐ̃nɐ ʁuˈsɛfⁱ]} born 14 December 1947) is the 36th and currentPresident of Brazil. She is the first woman to hold the office. Prior to that, in 2005, she was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff to the President of Brazil, appointed by then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

The daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur, Rousseff was raised in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte.^[1]She became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d'état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. Rousseff was captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972 and reportedly tortured. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

After her release, Rousseff rebuilt her life in Porto Alegre with Carlos Araújo, who would be her partner for 30 years.^[1] Both helped found the Democratic Labour Party (PDT) in Rio Grande do Sul, participating in several of the party's electoral campaigns. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

She became the Secretary of the Treasury of the city of Porto Alegre in the Alceu Collares administration, and later the Secretary of Energy of the State of Rio Grande do Sul under both Collares and Olívio Dutraadministrations.^[1] In 2000, after an internal dispute in the Dutra cabinet, she left PDT and joined the Workers' Party(PT).^[1] Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

In 2002, Rousseff joined the committee responsible for the energy policy of presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who after winning the election invited her to become Minister of Energy.^[1] In 2005, a political crisis triggered by a corruption scandal led to the resignation of Chief of Staff José Dirceu.Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

Rousseff took over the post, remaining in office until 31 March 2010, when she left in order to run for President.^[1] She was elected in a run-off on 31 October 2010. She is the first female elected President of Brazil, in addition to being the first economist to hold the office.

Dilma Vana Rousseff was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, on 14 December 1947, Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

to Bulgarian lawyer and entrepreneur Pedro Rousseff (born Pétar Russév, Bulgarian: Петър Русев, 1900–1962)^[4][5] and schoolteacher Dilma Jane da Silva.^[6][7]Her father was born in Gabrovo, Principality of Bulgaria^[8][9] and was a friend of the Nobel Prize-nominated Bulgarian poet Elisaveta Bagriana.^[10] Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

An active member of the Bulgarian Communist Party in the 1920s,^[11] Petar Rusev fled political persecution in Bulgaria in 1929, settling in France. He arrived in Brazil in the 1930s, already widowed (he left behind his son Lyuben, who died in 2007), but soon moved to Buenos Aires. He returned to Brazil several years later, settling in São Paulo, where he succeeded in business. Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery

Pétar Rúsev adapted his first name to Portuguese and the last toFrench. During a trip to Uberaba, he met Dilma Jane da Silva, a young schoolteacher born in Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, and raised in Minas Gerais, where her parents were ranchers. The two married and settled in Belo Horizonte, where they had three children: Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery

Igor, Dilma Vana, and Zana Lúcia (who died in 1977). Igor Rousseff, Dilma's elder brother, is a lawyer.^[11]

Pedro Rousseff was a contractor for Mannesmann steel, in addition to building and selling real estate. The family lived in a large house, had three servants, and maintained European habits. The children had a classical education, and both piano and French lessons. Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery

After Pedro defeated the initial resistance of the local community to accept foreigners, the family began to attend traditional clubs and schools.Rousseff was enrolled in preschool at the Colégio Izabela Hendrix and later received primary education at Colégio Nossa Senhora de Sion, a boarding school for girls run by nuns, where the students primarily spoke French with their teachers. Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery

Encouraged by her father, Rousseff acquired an early taste for reading. Pedro died in 1962, leaving behind around 15 properties.^[11]

In 1964 Rousseff left the conservative Colégio Sion and joined the Central State High School, a co-ed public school where the students would usually make a great stir against the dictatorship established after the military coup. Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery

According to Rousseff, it was in this school that she became aware of the political situation of her country, getting "very subversive" and realizing that "the world was not a place for débutantes." In 1967 she joined the Worker's Politics (Portuguese: Política Operária—POLOP), an organization founded in 1961 as a faction of the Brazilian Socialist Party. Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery

Its members soon found themselves divided over the method to be used for the implementation of socialism; while some supported the struggle for the election of a constituent assembly, others preferred the armed struggle.^[12] Rousseff joined the second group, which originated the Command of National Liberation (Portuguese: Comando de Libertação Nacional—COLINA). Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery

According to Apolo Heringer, who was the leader of Colina in 1968 and taught Marxism to Rousseff in high school, she chose the armed struggle after reading Revolution inside the Revolution by Régis Debray, a French intellectual who had moved to Cuba and became a friend of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Heringer says that "the book inflamed everybody, including Dilma." Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery

During that period, Rousseff met Cláudio Galeno Linhares, a brother in arms five years older than her. Galeno, who had joined POLOP 1n 1962, had served in theArmy, participating in the uprising of sailors against the military coup, for which he had been arrested in Ilha das Cobras. They married in 1968 in a civil ceremony, after dating for one year. Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery

Rousseff participated in the militant activities of the Comando de Libertação Nacional—COLINA (English: National Liberation Command) and advocated Marxist politics among labour union members and as editor of the newspaper The Piquet. Dilma's role in this organization is unclear. According to the magazine Piauí, she handled weapons. Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery

This is, however, contested by most of the Brazilian media. She probably was engaged only in "organization tasks".^[13]

In early 1969, the Minas Gerais branch of Colina was limited to a dozen militants, with little money and few weapons. Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery

Its activities had boiled down to four bank robberies, some stolen cars and two bombings, with no casualties. On 14 January, however, after the arrest of some militants during a bank robbery, the rest of them gathered to debate what they would do in order to release them from jail. At dawn, the police invaded the group's house and the militants responded by using a machine gun, which killed two policemen and wounded another.Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery

Rousseff and Galeno then began to sleep each night in a different location, since their apartment was visited by one of the leaders of the organization that had been arrested. They had to go back to their home secretly in order to destroy the organization's documents. On March 1969, the apartment was invaded by the police, but no documents were found. Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery

They stayed in Belo Horizonte for a few more weeks trying to reorganize what was left of Colina, but had to avoid their parents' houses, aware that they were being watched by the military (Rousseff's family had no knowledge of her participation in underground activities). In addition to that, Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery

Galeno had to undergo facial plastic surgery or a similar procedure (although he denies this) after a sketch of him was released for participating in a bank robbery. Unable to remain in the city, the organization ordered them to move to Rio de Janeiro. Rousseff was 21 and had just finished her fourth semester at the Minas Gerais Federal University School of Economics. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery

There were a large number of people from Minas Gerais in the Rio de Janeiro faction of Colina (including former Belo Horizonte mayor Fernando Pimentel, 18 years old at the time), with the organization having no infrastructure to shelter all of them. Rousseff and Galeno stayed for a brief period in the home of one of Rousseff's aunts, who thought that they were in Rio on vacation. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery

Later they moved to a small hotel and then to an apartment, until Galeno was sent by the organization to Porto Alegre. Rousseff remained in Rio, where she helped the organization, attending meetings and transporting weapons and money, according to the magazine Piauí. At one of these meetings, she met the Rio Grande do Sul-born lawyer Carlos Franklin Paixão de Araújo, who was then 31 years old; Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery

they developed a sudden attraction to one another. Araújo was head of a dissident group of the Brazilian Communist Party (Portuguese: Partido Comunista Brasileiro—PCB) and sheltered Galeano in Porto Alegre. The breakup with Galeno was peaceful. As Galeno said, "in that difficult situation, we had no prospect of being a regular couple."^[11] Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery

Araújo was the son of a prominent labor defense lawyer and had joined the PCB early. He had traveled through Latin America (having met Castro and Che Guevara) and had been imprisoned for several months in 1964. He joined the armed struggle after the issue of AI-5 by the dictatorship in 1968. Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery

On early 1969, he began to discuss the merger of his group with Colina and Popular Revolutionary Vanguard (Portuguese: Vanguarda Popular Revolucionária—VPR), led by Carlos Lamarca. Rousseff attended some meetings about the merger, which was formalized in two conferences in Mongaguá, leading to the creation of Revolutionary Armed Vanguard PalmaresSony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery

(Portuguese: Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares—VAR Palmares). Rousseff and Araújo attended these conferences, as well as Lamarca, who thought that Rousseff was a "stuck-up intellectual." His perception was based on her defense of a revolution through the political engagement of the working class, in opposition to VPR's military-based sense of revolution. Sony VAIO VPCS129GC Battery

Carlos Araújo was chosen as one of the six leaders of VAR Palmares, which claimed to be a "political-military organization of Marxist-Leninist partisan orientation which aims to fulfill the tasks of the revolutionary war and the establishment of the working class party, in order to seize power and build socialism." Sony VAIO VPCS12C7E/B Battery

According to Maurício Lopes Lima, a former member of the Operação Bandeirantes (OBAN) search force (a structure which included the intelligence and torture services of the Armed Forces), Rousseff was the main leader of VAR Palmares. According to him, he received reports defining her as "one of the brains" of the revolutionary schemes. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B Battery

Police commissioner Newton Fernandes, who investigated the clandestine organization in São Paulo and drew the profile of dozens of their members, said that Rousseff was one of the principal masterminds of the revolutionary schemes. The attorney which prosecuted the organization called her "Joan of Arc of subversion," saying that she led strikes and advised bank robberies. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B Battery

She was also dubbed as "the she-pope of subversion," "political criminal," and "female figure of sadly notable aspect."^[11] Rousseff ridicules such comparison, stating that she does not even remember many of the actions attributed to her.^[16] According to her former comrade and current colleague, Environment Minister Carlos Minc, her role in the group was sensationalized. Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery

"Because she is a very important person, they'll say anything about her."^[17]

Rousseff has sometimes been described as the mastermind of the theft of a safe belonging to former governor of São Paulo,Ademar de Barros. The action was carried out on 18 June 1969, in Rio de Janeiro, and netted 2.5 million U.S. dollars. Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery

It became the most spectacular and profitable action of the armed struggle.^[11] Carlos Minc has denied the participation of Rousseff in the event, saying that the widespread version that she was the leader of the organization is rather exaggerated, since she was merely a member of no distinction. On at least three different occasions Rousseff herself also denied participating in the event. Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery

Testimonials and police reports indicated that Rousseff was responsible for managing the money from the robbery, paying the salaries of the militants, finding a shelter for the group, and buying aVolkswagen Beetle. Rousseff only remembers purchasing the car, and doubts that she was the one responsible for managing the money. Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery

In 1969, VAR Palmares allegedly planned the kidnapping of Antônio Delfim Netto, a symbol of the "Brazilian Miracle" and the most powerful civilian in the federal government at the time. This would have been carried out in December according to the book Os Carbonários, written by Alfredo Sirkis in 1981. Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery

Antonio Roberto Espinosa, former head of both VPR and VAR Palmares, was reported to have said that Rousseff was one of the five members of the organization's leadership aware of it. The kidnapping did not take place because the members of the organization were captured just weeks before. Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery

Rousseff emphatically denies that she was aware of the plan and doubts that anyone involved really remembers much about it. She also said that Espinosa fantasized about the event.^[20][21] After learning about the quotes that were being attributed to him, Espinosa denied stating that Rousseff knew about the plan, which was vague in any case. Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery

He said that Rousseff never participated or planned any paramilitary actions; her role was only political.

Even with large amounts of money, the organization failed to maintain its unity. At a conference held in Teresópolis between August and September 1969, there was a major dispute among those who supported the armed struggle and who advocated working with the masses. Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ Battery

Rousseff was in the second group. While the first group split into the paramilitary VPR, led by Lamarca, the second (including Rousseff) continued as VAR Palmares. There was a dispute over the money and weapons.^[11]

After the split, Rousseff was sent to São Paulo, where she was in charge of keeping her group's weapons safe. Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery

She avoided the risk of keeping them in apartments by moving with a friend (Maria Celeste Martins, who would become her Chief of Staff assistant decades later) to a simple boarding house in the eastern zone of the city, where they hid the weapons under their beds.

José Olavo Leite Ribeiro, who met three times a week with Rousseff, was captured by the military. Sony VAIO VPCY11AVJ Battery

As Ribeiro reported, after a day of torture, he revealed the place where he would meet with another militant, in a bar on Rua Augusta in São Paulo. On 16 January 1970, he was forced to go to the bar accompanied by undercover policemen, where his colleague was captured and, when they were preparing to leave, Rousseff unexpectedly arrived. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery

Realizing that something was wrong, Rousseff tried to leave the place without being noticed. The officers suspected Rousseff and searched her, discovering that she was armed. "If it was not for the gun, it is possible that she could have escaped," says Ribeiro.^[11] Rousseff was considered a big enough catch that a military prosecutor labeled her the "Joan of Arc" of the guerrilla movement.^[2] Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery

Rousseff was taken to the OBAN headquarters, the same place where Vladimir Herzog would be tortured and killed five years later. She was allegedly tortured for 22 days by punching, ferule, and electric shock devices.^[27] As Maria Luisa Belloque, a cellmate, said "Dilma was shocked even with car wiring."Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery

Some ex-military officers have dismissed Rousseff's account, saying that she could not have survived that extent of torture.^[28] Later, Rousseff denounced the torture she suffered in court proceedings, citing even the names of those who tortured her, such as Army Captain Benoni de Arruda Albernaz, mentioned by several other witnesses. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery

Although she revealed the locations of some militants during torture interrogation, Rousseff managed to preserve the identities of Carlos Araújo (who would be arrested several months later) and Maria Celeste Martins.^[11] Rousseff's name was on a list found at Carlos Lamarca's home, on a list of the prisoners who would get priority in exchange for hostages, but she was never exchanged and served out her sentence.^[29]Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery

Carlos Araújo was arrested on 12 August 1970. After Rousseff was captured, he had an affair with actress and fellow militant Bete Mendes. After his arrest, he met Rousseff on some occasions, during displacements regarding the military lawsuits both being prosecuted for. They were even a few months in the same prison in São Paulo, where during conjugal visits they reconciled, Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery

planning to resume married life after being released from jail.^[11] Rousseff was convicted in the first instance to six years in prison. She had already served three years when the Supreme Military Court reduced her sentence to two years and a month. She also had her political rights suspended for eighteen years.^[30] Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery

In December 2006, the Special Commission for Reparation of the Human Rights Office for the State of Rio de Janeiro approved a request for indemnification by Rousseff and eighteen other prisoners in law enforcement agencies of the São Paulo state government in the 1970s.^[31] In her request, a pivotal witness was Vânia Abrantes, Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery

who was in the same police car that transferred her from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro (Vânia was Araújo's girlfriend when he and Rousseff began to date).^[11] Rousseff also requested compensation in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, since she was arrested in São Paulo but taken for interrogation in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Rio de Janeiro. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/P Battery

She also seeks indemnification from the federal government. The total compensation figure paid to victims of political persecution may be up to 72,000 reais. However, as her advisors have declared, the indemnification has a symbolic value to her, and Rousseff demanded the requests to be tried only after her departure from public office.^[30] Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery

On 5 April 2009, Folha de S. Paulo published, on its front page, an alleged criminal record of Rousseff containing notes about various crimes allegedly committed by her. The document would have been part of the file of the Department of Political and Social Order (Portuguese: Departamento de Ordem Política e Social—DOPS), the military regime's political police. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/L Battery

Rousseff questioned the veracity of the file, claiming that it was a forged document, which led the newspaper to declare that it had not obtained the document from DOPS' file, but rather via e-mail and, thus, could not guarantee its veracity. The record can be found on a far right-wing website which supports the regime. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/P Battery

Rousseff left jail at the end of 1972. She was twenty pounds thinner and had acquired a thyroid disease.^[37] She spent some time with her family in Minas Gerais in order to recover, visited an aunt in São Paulo, and then moved to Porto Alegre, where Carlos Araújo was finishing the last months of his sentence. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/R Battery

She stayed in her in-laws' house, from where they could see the prison where Araújo was. Rousseff frequently visited her partner, giving him newspapers and political books disguised as novels. The Presídio da Ilha das Pedras Brancas was deactivated, and Araújo fulfilled the remainder of his sentence in the Presídio Central. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/W Battery

The prominent lawyer, Afrânio Araújo, Carlos' father, died in June 1974, prompting his friends to pressure the regime for the release of Carlos, which happened just a week later.^[11][37]

Punished for subversion in accordance with the decree number 477, considered the AI-5 of universities, Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/B Battery

Rousseff was expelled from the Minas Gerais Federal University and barred from resuming her studies at that university in 1973.^[38] She decided to attend a preparatory course in order to take the vestibular test for Economics at the Rio Grande do Sul Federal University. She was admitted in the university and graduated in 1977, this time not participating actively in the students' movement. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/L Battery

The year before, in March, she gave birth to her only child, daughter Paula Rousseff Araújo. After graduation, she got her first paid job after serving her prison sentence as an intern at the Foundation of Economics and Statistics (Portuguese: Fundação de Economia e Estatística—FEE), an organization linked to the government of Rio Grande do Sul. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/R Battery

Her political activism, this time within the law, was resumed at the Institute of Social and Political Studies (Portuguese:Instituto de Estudos Políticos e Sociais—IEPES) linked to the only legalized opposition party, the Democratic Movement. Even though she was not affiliated with the party, Rousseff organized debates at the institute, Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/W Battery

which received lectures from scholars such as Francisco de Oliveira, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Francisco Weffort. In 1976, Rousseff and Araújo worked in the campaign of Glênio Peres, a MDB candidate for the city council. Although elected, Peres' term was revoked for denouncing the regime's torture in a speech. Sony VAIO VPCCW26EC Battery

In November 1977, Rousseff was reported by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo as one of the 97 "subversives" infiltrated in the public administration. The list was made by resigned Army Minister, Silvio Frota, who had summarized the political background of those he listed. Sony VAIO VPCCW26FX/B Battery

Rousseff, characterized as a Colina and VAR Palmares militant "cohabitating with the subversive Carlos Araújo," was discharged from her job at the FEE, being pardoned later.^[37]

In 1978, Rousseff attended the Campinas State University, with the intention of receiving a master's degree in Economics. Sony VAIO VPCCW28EC Battery

Democrat Deval Patrick's 20-point

Democrat Deval Patrick's 20-point win over Republican Kerry Healey, Romney's Lieutenant Governor, in the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.^[223][225]

Romney filed to register a presidential campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission on his penultimate day in office as governor.^[226] His term ended January 4, 2007. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93YS Battery

Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, in Dearborn, Michigan.^[227] Again casting himself as a political outsider,^[228] his speech frequently invoked his father and his family, and stressed experiences in the private, public, and voluntary sectors that had brought him to this point. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94FS Battery

The campaign emphasized Romney's highly profitable career in the business world and his stewardship of the Olympics.He also had political experience as a governor, together with a political pedigree courtesy of his father (as well as many biographical parallels with him). Ann Romney, who had become an advocate for those with multiple sclerosis, Sony VAIO VGN-SR94GS Battery

was in remission and would be an active participant in his campaign,^[237] helping to soften his political personality.Media stories referred to the 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m) Romney as handsome.Moreover, a number of commentators noted that with his square jaw and ample hair graying at the temples, he physically matched one of the common images of what a president should look like. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94HS Battery

Romney's liabilities included having run for senator and serving as governor in one of the nation's most liberal states and having taken positions in opposition to the party's conservative base during that time.Late during his term as governor, he had shifted positions and emphases to better align with traditional conservatives on social issues.Sony VAIO VGN-SR94VS Battery

Skeptics, including some Republicans, charged Romney with opportunism and a lack of core principles.As a Mormon, he faced suspicion and skepticism by some in the Evangelical portion of the party.

For his campaign, Romney assembled a veteran group of Republican staffers, consultants, and pollsters.^[ Sony VAIO VPC CW2MFX/PU Battery

He was little-known nationally, though, and stayed around the 10 percent support range in Republican preference polls for the first half of 2007.^[219] He proved the most effective fundraiser of any of the Republican candidates and also partly financed his campaign with his own personal fortune. Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery

These resources, combined with the mid-year near-collapse of nominal front-runner John McCain's campaign, made Romney a threat to win the nomination and the focus of the other candidates' attacks.^[246] Romney's staff suffered from internal strife; the candidate himself was at times indecisive, often asking for more data before making a decision. Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery

During all of his political campaigns, Romney has avoided speaking publicly about Mormon doctrines, referring to the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of religious tests for public office.But persistent questions about the role of religion in Romney's life, as well as Southern Baptist minister and former Governor of Arkansas Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery

Mike Huckabee's rise in the polls based upon an explicitly Christian-themed campaign, led to the December 6, 2007, "Faith in America" speech.^[249] In the speech Romney declared, "I believe in my Mormon faith and endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs."^[11] Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery

Romney added that he should neither be elected nor rejected based upon his religion,^[250] and echoed Senator John F. Kennedy's famous speech during his 1960 presidential campaign in saying, "I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law."Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery

Instead of discussing the specific tenets of his faith, he said he would be informed by it, stating: "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone."Academics would later study the role religion had played in the campaign. Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery

The campaign's strategy called for winning the initial two contests – the January 3, 2008, Iowa Republican caucuses and the adjacent-to-his-home-state January 8 New Hampshire primary – and propelling Romney nationally. However, he took second place in both, losing Iowa to a vastly outspent Huckabee who received more than twice the evangelical Christian votes, and losing New Hampshire to the resurgent McCain. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery

Huckabee and McCain criticized Romney's image as a flip flopper^[254] and this label would stick to Romney through the campaign^[230] (one that Romney rejected as unfair and inaccurate, except for his acknowledged change of mind on abortion).^[ Romney seemed to approach the campaign as a management consulting exercise, and showed a lack of personal warmth and political feel; Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D Battery

journalist Evan Thomas wrote that Romney "came off as a phony, even when he was perfectly sincere."The fervor with which Romney adopted his new stances and attitudes contributed to the perception of inauthenticity which hampered the campaign.Romney's staff would conclude that competing as a candidate of social conservatism and ideological purity rather than of pragmatic competence had been a mistake. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/B Battery

A win by McCain over Huckabee in South Carolina, and by Romney over McCain in childhood-home Michigan, set up a pivotal battle in the Florida primary.Romney campaigned intensively on economic issues and the burgeoning subprime mortgage crisis, while McCain attacked Romney regarding Iraq policy and benefited from endorsements from Florida officeholders. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/P Battery

McCain won a 5 percentage point victory on January 29.Although many Republican officials were now lining up behind McCain,^[260] Romney persisted through the nationwide Super Tuesday contests on February 5. There he won primaries or caucuses in several states, but McCain won in more and in larger-population ones. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/S Battery

Trailing McCain in delegates by a more than two-to-one margin, Romney announced the end of his campaign on February 7.^[261]

Altogether, Romney had won 11 primaries and caucuses,^[262] receiving about 4.7 million votes^[263] and garnering about 280 delegates. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E Battery

He spent $110 million during the campaign, including $45 million of his own money.^[265]

Romney endorsed McCain for president a week later,^[264] and McCain had Romney on a short list for vice presidential running mate, where his business experience would have balanced one of McCain's weaknesses. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/B Battery

McCain, behind in the polls, opted instead for a high-risk, high-reward "game changer", selecting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.^[267]  McCain lost the election to Democratic Senator Barack Obama.

Romney supported the Bush administration's Troubled Asset Relief Program in response to the late-2000s financial crisis, Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/P Battery

later saying that it prevented the U.S. financial system from collapsing.During the U.S. automotive industry crisis of 2008–10, he opposed a bailout of the industry in the form of direct government intervention, and argued that a managed bankruptcy of struggling automobile companies should instead be accompanied by federal guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing from the private sector. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/S Battery

Following the 2008 election, Romney laid the groundwork for a likely 2012 presidential campaign by using his Free and Strong America political action committee(PAC) to raise money for other Republican candidates and pay his existing political staff's salaries and consulting fees.A network of former staff and supporters around the nation were eager for him to run again. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140N/S Battery

He continued to give speeches and raise funds for Republicans,^[274] but fearing overexposure, turned down many potential media appearances.He also spoke before business, educational, and motivational groups. From 2009 to 2011, he served on the board of directors of Marriott International, founded by his namesake J. Willard Marriott. He had previously served on it from 1993 to 2002. Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/B Battery

In 2009, the Romneys sold their primary residence in Belmont and their ski chalet in Utah, leaving them an estate along Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and an oceanfront home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, California, which they had purchased the year before.Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/P Battery

The San Diego home proved beneficial in location and climate for Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her late 2008 diagnosis of mammary ductal carcinoma in situ and subsequent lumpectomy.Both it and the New Hampshire location were near some of their grandchildren  (who by 2012 numbered eighteen). Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/S Battery

Romney maintained his voting registration in Massachusetts, however, and bought a smaller condominium in Belmont during 2010.^[281][284] In February 2010, Romney had a minor altercation with LMFAO member Skyler Gordy, known as Sky Blu, on an airplane flight.^{[nb 19]}

Romney released his book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, in March 2010, and undertook an 18-state book tour to promote the work. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EBJ Battery

In the book, Romney writes of his belief in American exceptionalism,^[289] and presents his economic and geopolitical views rather than anecdotes about his personal or political life.^[289][290] It debuted atop The New York Times Best Seller list.^[291] Romney donated his earnings from the book to charity.^[101]Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EBQ Battery

Immediately following the March 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Romney attacked the landmark legislation as "an unconscionable abuse of power" and said the act should be repealed.^[292] The antipathy Republicans felt for it created a potential problem for the former governor, Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EEJ/C Battery

since the new federal law was in many ways similar to the Massachusetts health care reform passed during Romney's term; as one Associated Press article stated, "Obamacare ... looks a lot like Romneycare." While acknowledging that his plan was an imperfect work in progress, Romney did not back away from it. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NAB Battery

He defended the state-level health insurance mandate that underpinned it, calling the bill the right answer to Massachusetts' problems at the time.

In nationwide opinion polling for the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries, Romney led or placed in the top three with Palin and Huckabee. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NBB Battery

A January 2010National Journal survey of political insiders found that a majority of Republican insiders and a plurality of Democratic insiders predicted Romney would be the party's 2012 nominee.Romney campaigned heavily for Republican candidates in the 2010 midterm elections,raising more money than the other prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidates. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NDB Battery

Beginning in early 2011, Romney presented a more relaxed visual image, including more casual attire.

On April 11, 2011, Romney announced, via a video taped outdoors at the University of New Hampshire, that he had formed anexploratory committee for a run for the Republican presidential nomination. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NEB Battery

Quinnipiac University political science professor Scott McLean stated, "We all knew that he was going to run. He's really been running for president ever since the day after the 2008 election."

Romney stood to benefit from the Republican electorate's tendency to nominate candidates who had previously run for president, and thus appeared to be next in line to be chosen. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NGB Battery

The early stages of the race found him as the apparent front-runner in a weak field, especially in terms of fundraising prowess and organization.Perhaps his greatest hurdle in gaining the Republican nomination was party opposition to the Massachusetts health care reform law that he had shepherded five years earlier. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PAB Battery

As many potential Republican candidates with star power and fundraising ability decided not to run (including Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and Mitch Daniels), Republican party figures searched for plausible alternatives to Romney.

On June 2, 2011, Romney formally announced the start of his campaign. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PCB Battery

Speaking on a farm in Stratham, New Hampshire, he focused on the economy and criticized President Obama's handling of it.^[306] He said, "In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it – because I have lived it." Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PFB Battery

Romney raised $56 million during 2011, more than double the amount raised by any of his Republican opponents,^[307] and refrained from spending his own money on the campaign.^[308] He initially pursued a low-key, low-profile strategy.^[309]Michele Bachmann staged a brief surge in polls, which preceded a poll surge in September 2011 by Rick Perry who had entered the race the month before. Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VN Battery

Perry and Romney exchanged sharp criticisms of each other during a series of debates among the Republican candidates.The October 2011 decisions of Chris Christie and Sarah Palin not to run effectively settled the field of candidates.Perry faded after poor performances in those debates, while Herman Cain's 'long-shot' bid gained popularity until allegations of sexual misconduct derailed it.Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VN Battery

Romney continued to seek support from a wary Republican electorate; at this point in the race, his poll numbers were relatively flat and at a historically low level for a Republican frontrunner.After the charges of flip-flopping that marked his 2008 campaign began to accumulate again, Romney declared in November 2011: "I've been as consistent as human beings can be." Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VRN Battery

n the final month before voting began, Newt Gingrich experienced a significant surge – taking a solid lead in national polls and most of the early caucus and primary states^[321] – before settling back into parity or worse with Romney following a barrage of negative ads from Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC. Sony VAIO VGN-SR19XN Battery

In the initial contest, the 2012 Iowa caucuses of January 3, election officials announced Romney as ahead with 25 percent of the vote, edging out a late-gainingRick Santorum by eight votes (an also-strong Ron Paul finished third).Sixteen days later, however, they certified Santorum as the winner by a 34-vote margin. Sony VAIO VGN-SR19XN Battery

A week after the Iowa caucuses, Romney earned a decisive win in the New Hampshire primary with a total of 39 percent of the vote; Paul finished second and Jon Huntsman third.

In the run-up to the South Carolina Republican primary, Gingrich launched ads criticizing Romney for causing job losses while at Bain Capital, Perry referred to Romney's role there as "vulture capitalism", Sony VAIO VGN-SR210J/S Battery

and Sarah Palin pressed Romney to prove his claim that he created 100,000 jobs during that time. Many conservatives rallied in defense of Romney, rejecting what they inferred as criticism of free-market capitalism. During two debates in the state, Romney fumbled questions about releasing his income tax returns, Sony VAIO VGN-SR21M/S Battery

while Gingrich gained support with audience-rousing attacks on the debate moderators.Romney's double-digit lead in state polls evaporated; he lost to Gingrich by 13 points in the January 21 primary.Combined with the delayed loss in Iowa, Romney's admitted poor week represented a lost chance to end the race early, and he quickly decided to release two years of his tax returns. Sony VAIO VGN-SR21RM/H Battery

The race turned to the Florida Republican primary, where in debates, appearances, and advertisements, Romney launched a sustained barrage against Gingrich's past record and associations and current electability. Romney enjoyed a large spending advantage from both his campaign and his aligned Super PAC, and after a record-breaking rate of negative ads from both sides, Sony VAIO VGN-SR21RM/S Battery

Romney won Florida on January 31, gaining 46 percent of the vote to Gingrich's 32 percent.

Several caucuses and primaries took place during February, and Santorum won three in a single night early in the month, propelling him into the lead in national and some state polls and positioning him as Romney's chief rival. Sony VAIO VGN-SR220J/B Battery

Days later, Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference that he had been a "severely conservative governor" (while during his term in 2005 he had maintained that his positions were moderate and characterized reports that he was shifting to the right to attract conservative votes a media distortion). Sony VAIO VGN-SR220J/H Battery

Romney won the other five February contests, including a closely fought one in his home state of Michigan at the end of the month.In the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses of March 6, Romney won six of ten contests, including a narrow victory in Ohio over a vastly outspent Santorum. Although his victories were not enough to end the race, Sony VAIO VGN-SR240J/B Battery

they were enough to establish a two-to-one delegate lead over Santorum.^[339] Romney maintained his delegate margin through subsequent contests,^[340] and Santorum suspended his campaign on April 10.^[341]  Following a sweep of five more contests on April 24, the Republican National Committee put its resources to work for Romney as the party's presumptive nominee. Sony VAIO VGN-SR240N/B Battery

Romney clinched a majority of the delegates with a win in the Texas primary on May 29.

Polls have consistently indicated a tight race for the November general election.^[343]  Negative ads from both sides dominated the campaign, with Obama's proclaiming that Romney shipped jobs overseas while at Bain Capital and kept money in offshore tax havens and Swiss bank accounts. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTH Battery

A related issue dealt with Romney's purported responsibility for actions at Bain Capital after taking the Olympics post.^[95][97]  Romney faced demands from Democrats to release additional years of his tax returns, an action a number of Republicans also felt would be wise; after being adamant that he would not do that, he released summaries of them in late September. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTJ Battery

In July 2012, Romney visited the United Kingdom, Israel, and Poland, meeting leaders in an effort to raise his credibility as a world statesman.^[346] Comments Romney made about the readiness of the 2012 Summer Olympics were perceived as undiplomatic by the British press.Israeli Prime Minister (and former BCG colleague) Benjamin Netanyahu, Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTQ Battery

embraced Romney, though some Palestinians criticized him for suggesting that Israel's culture led to their greater economic success.^[

On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced the selection of Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice-presidential running mate. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVB/C Battery

On August 28, 2012, the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, officially nominated Romney as their candidate for the presidency.^[351] Romney is the first Mormon to become a major-party presidential nominee.^[352]

In mid-September, a video surfaced of Romney speaking before a group of supporters in which he stated that 47 percent of the nation pays no income tax, Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVH/C Battery

are dependent on the federal government, see themselves as victims, and will support President Obama unconditionally. Romney went on to say: "And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."^[After facing criticism about the tone and accuracy of these comments, Sony VAIO VGN-SR290NTB Battery

he at first characterized them as "inelegantly stated", then a couple of weeks later commented: "I said something that's just completely wrong."

The first of three 2012 presidential election debates took place on October 3, in Denver. Media figures and political analysts widely viewed Romney as having delivered a stronger and more focused presentation than did President Obama. Sony VAIO VGN-SR29VN/S Battery

In addition to calling for cuts in federal government spending to help reduce the national debt, Romney has proposed gradually raising the eligibility ages for receipt of Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement program benefits.He favors substantial increases in military spending and promises to invest more heavily in military weapons programs while increasing the number of active-duty military personnel.Sony VAIO VGN-NS240E/L Battery

He was very supportive of the directions taken by the budget proposals of Paul Ryan, although he later proposed his own budget plan which, for example, lowers tax rates within existing brackets instead of adopting Ryan's idea of collapsing six income tax brackets into two.

Romney pledges to lead an effort to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")Sony VAIO VGN-NS290J/L Battery

and replace it with a system that gives states more control over Medicaid and makes health insurance premiums tax-advantaged for individuals in the same way they are for businesses.^[364] He favors repeal of theDodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Sarbanes–Oxley Act and intends to replace them with what he calls a "streamlined, modern regulatory framework".Sony VAIO VGN-NS290J/S Battery

He has also promised to seek income tax law changes that he says would help to lower federal deficits and would stimulate economic growth. These include: reducing individual income tax rates across the board by 20 percent, maintaining the Bush administration-era tax rate of 15 percent on investment income fromdividends and capital gains Sony VAIO VGN-NS50B/L Battery

(and eliminating this tax entirely for those with annual incomes less than $200,000), cutting the top tax rate on corporations from 35 to 25 percent, and eliminating the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax.  He has promised that the loss of government revenue from these tax cuts would be Sony VAIO VGN-NS50B/W Battery

offset by closing loopholes and placing limits on tax deductions and credits available to taxpayers with the highest incomes,but has said that that aspect of the plan cannot be evaluated yet because details are lacking.

Romney opposes the use of mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions to deal with global warming.^[ Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/L Battery

He has stated that he believes climate change is occurring, but that he does not know how much of it can be linked to human activity. He is a proponent of increased domestic oil drilling, hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), building more nuclear power plants, and reducing the regulatory authority of the Environmental Protection Agency.Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/P Battery

He believesNorth American energy independence can be achieved by 2020.

Romney labels Russia as America's "number one geopolitical foe",and asserts that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear capability should be America's "highest national security priority".He plans to formally label China a currency manipulator and take associated counteractions unless that country changes its trade practices. Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/W Battery

Romney supports the Patriot Act, continued operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and use of enhanced interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists.Romney opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions, although he favors domestic partnership legislation that gives certain legal rights to same-sex couples, such as hospital visitationSony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/L Battery

In 2011, he signed a pledge promising to seek passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Since 2005, Romney has described himself as "pro-life", writing: "I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother." Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/P Battery

During his 1994 campaign for the senate, Romney had said, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country," a stance he reiterated during his 2002 campaign for governor.Campaigning for the presidency in 2011, he said he would support pro-life legislation should it come before him as president,Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/W Battery

such as a Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.In October 2012, he said that as president, "There's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda."The following day, his campaign spokeswoman said that "Gov. Sony VAIO VGN-NS70B/W Battery

Romney would of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life."While Romney would prefer to see passage of a constitutional amendment that would outlaw abortion, he does not believe the public would support such an amendment;as an alternative, he has promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would help overturn Sony VAIO VGN-NS71B/W Battery

Roe v. Wade, allowing each state to decide on the legality of abortion.

Romney has said that he would appoint federal judges in the mold of U.S. Supreme Court justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, and Samuel Alito. He has advocated judicial restraint and strict constructionism as judicial philosophies. Sony VAIO VGN-NS72JB/W Battery

Romney has received five honorary doctorates: in business from the University of Utah in 1999, in law from Bentley College in 2002, in public administration from Suffolk University Law School in 2004, in public service fromHillsdale College in 2007, and in humanities from Liberty University in 2012. Sony VAIO VGN-NS90HS Battery

People magazine included Romney in its 50 Most Beautiful People list for 2002, and in 2004, a foundation that promotes the Olympic Truce gave him its inaugural Truce Ideal Award.The Cranbrook School gave him their Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005.In 2008, he shared with his wife Ann, Sony VAIO VGN-NS92JS Battery

the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the presidential campaign.In 2012, Time included Romney in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Sony VAIO VGN-NS92XS Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF Battery

In the November general election

In the November general election, despite a disastrous showing for Democrats nationwide, Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent,^[56] the smallest margin in any of Kennedy's re-election campaigns for the Senate.^[143]

The day after the election, Romney returned to Bain Capital, but the loss had a lasting effect; Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

he told his brother, "I never want to run for something again unless I can win."^[47][144] When his father died in 1995, Mitt donated his inheritance to BYU's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management.^[55] He also joined the board, as vice-chair, of the Points of Light Foundation,which had incorporated his father's National Volunteer Center. Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

Romney felt restless as the decade neared a close; the goal of simply making more money was becoming inadequate for him.Although no longer in a local leadership position in his church, he still taught Sunday School.During the long and controversial approval and construction process for the $30 million Mormon temple in Belmont, he feared that, as a political figure who had opposed Kennedy,Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

he would become a focal point for opposition to the structure.^[113] He thus kept to a limited, behind-the-scenes role in attempts to ease tensions between the church and local residents.

In 1998, Ann Romney learned that she had multiple sclerosis; Mitt described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

After experiencing two years of severe difficulties with the disease, she found – while living in Park City, Utah, where the couple had built a vacation home – a combination of mainstream, alternative, and equestrian therapies that enabled her to lead a lifestyle mostly without limitations.Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

When her husband received an offer to take over the troubled organization responsible for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, to be held in Salt Lake City in Utah, she urged him to accept it; eager for a new challenge, as well as another chance to prove himself in public life, he did. On February 11, 1999, Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

theSalt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 hired Romney as their president and CEO.

Before Romney took the position, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue goals. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

Officials had made plans to scale back the Games to compensate for the fiscal crisis, and there were fears it might be moved away entirely.^[149]Additionally, the image of the Games had been damaged by allegations of bribery against top officials including prior committee president and CEO Frank Joklik. Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee forced Joklik and committee vice president Dave Johnson to resign.^[150] Utah power brokers, including Governor Mike Leavitt, searched for someone with a scandal-free reputation to take charge of the Olympics, and chose Romney based on his business and legal expertise as well as his connections to both the LDS Church and the state. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

The appointment faced some initial criticism from non-Mormons, and fears from Mormons, that it represented cronyism or made the Games seem too Mormon-dominated.^[38] Romney donated to charity the $1.4 million in salary and severance payments he received for his three years as president and CEO, and also contributed $1 million to the Olympics. Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

Romney restructured the organization's leadership and policies.  He reduced budgets and boosted fundraising, alleviating the concerns of corporate sponsors while recruiting new ones.Romney worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by coordinating a $300 million security budget. Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

He oversaw a $1.32 billion total budget, 700 employees, and 26,000 volunteers The federal government provided approximately $400 million to $600 millionof that budget, much of it a result of Romney's having aggressively lobbied Congress and federal agencies.^[ It was a record level of federal funding for the staging of a U.S. Olympics. Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

An additional $1.1 billion of indirect federal funding came to the state in the form of highway and transit projects.

Romney emerged as the local public face of the Olympic effort, appearing in photographs, in news stories, on collectible Olympics pins depicting Romney wrapped by an American flag, Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

and on buttons carrying phrases like "Hey, Mitt, we love you!" Robert H. Garff, the chair of the organizing committee, later said "It was obvious that he had an agenda larger than just the Olympics,"and that Romney wanted to use the Olympics to propel himself into the national spotlight and a political career.^[Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

Garff believed the initial budget situation was not as bad as Romney portrayed, given there were still three years to reorganize.Utah Senator Bob Bennett said that much of the needed federal money was already in place.An analysis by The Boston Globe later stated that the committee had nearly $1 billion in committed revenues at that time. Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

Olympics critic Steve Pace, who led Utahns for Responsible Public Spending, thought Romney exaggerated the initial fiscal state to lay the groundwork for a well-publicized rescue.^[160] Kenneth Bullock, another board member of the organizing committee and also head of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

often clashed with Romney at the time, and later said that Romney deserved some credit for the turnaround but not as much as he claimed.^[144] Bullock said: "He tried very hard to build an image of himself as a savior, the great white hope. He was very good at characterizing and castigating people and putting himself on a pedestal." Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up with a surplus of $100 million.^[161] President George W. Bush praised Romney's efforts and 87 percent of Utahns approved of his performance as Olympics head. It solidified his reputation as a "turnaround artist", and Harvard Business School taught a case study based around his actions. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

U.S. Olympic Committee head William Hybl credited Romney with an extraordinary effort in overcoming a difficult time for the Olympics, culminating in "the greatest Winter Games I have ever seen".Romney wrote a book about his experience titled Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games, published in 2004. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

The role gave Romney experience in dealing with federal, state, and local entities, a public persona he had previously lacked, and the chance to relaunch his political aspirations.

In 2002, plagued by political missteps and personal scandals, the administration of Republican Acting Governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift appeared vulnerable, and many Republicans viewed her as unable to win a general election. Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

Prominent party figures – as well as the White House – wanted Romney to run for governorand the opportunity appealed to him for reasons including its national visibility.^[168] A poll by the Boston Herald showed Republicans favoring Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points.On March 19, 2002, Sony VAIO VGN-SR2RVN/S Battery

Swift announced she would not seek her party's nomination, and hours later Romney declared his candidacy,^[169] for which he would face no opposition in the primary.^[170] In June 2002, the Massachusetts Democratic Party challenged Romney's eligibility to run for governor, noting that state law required seven years' consecutive residence and that Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAB Battery

Romney had filed his state tax returns as a Utah resident in 1999 and 2000.In response, the bipartisan Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission unanimously ruled that he had maintained sufficient financial and personal ties to Massachusetts and was, therefore, an eligible candidate.^[173]

Romney again ran as a political outsider.^[162] He played down his party affiliation, Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAH Battery

saying he was "not a partisan Republican" but rather a "moderate" with "progressive" views.^[175] He stated that he would observe a moratorium on changes to the state's laws on abortion, but reiterated that he would "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose" and that his position was "unequivocal".Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/P Battery

He touted his private sector experience as qualifying him for addressing the state's fiscal problems^[170] and stressed his ability to obtain federal funds for the state, offering his Olympics record as evidence.He proposed to reorganize the state government while eliminating waste, fraud, and mismanagement . Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/S Battery

The campaign innovatively utilized microtargeting techniques, identifying like-minded groups of voters and reaching them with narrowly tailored messaging.^[178]

In an attempt to overcome the image that had damaged him in the 1994 Senate race – that of a wealthy corporate buyout specialist out of touch with the needs of regular people – the campaign staged a series of "work days",Sony VAIO VGN-SR49VN/H Battery

in which Romney performed blue-collar jobs such as herding cows and baling hay, unloading a fishing boat, and hauling garbage. Television ads highlighting the effort, as well as one portraying his family in gushing terms and showing him shirtless,^[ received a poor public response and were a factor in his Democratic opponent, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/P Battery

Massachusetts State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, leading in the polls as late as mid-October.He responded with ads that accused O'Brien of being a failed watchdog for state pension fund losses in the stock market and that associated her husband, a former lobbyist, with the Enron scandal.These were effective in capturing independent voters. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/S Battery

O'Brien said that Romney's budget plans were unrealistic; the two also differed on capital punishment and bilingual education, with Romney supporting the former and opposing the latter.^[181]

During the election, Romney contributed more than $6 million – a state record at the time – to the nearly $10 million raised for his campaign overall. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF Battery

On November 5, 2002, Romney won the governorship, earning 50 percent of the vote to O'Brien's 45 percent.

The swearing in of Romney as the 70th governor of Massachusetts took place on January 2, 2003.He faced a Massachusetts state legislature with large Democratic majorities in both houses, and had picked his cabinet and advisors based more on managerial abilities than partisan affiliation. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/P Battery

He declined a governor's salary of $135,000 during his term.^[188] Upon entering office in the middle of a fiscal year, he faced an immediate $650 million shortfall and a projected $3 billion deficit for the next year.^[174] Unexpected revenue of $1.0–1.3 billion from a previously enacted capital gains tax increase and $500 million in new federal grants decreased the deficit to $1.2–1.5 billion. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/S Battery

Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes,^[189] the state achieved surpluses of around $600–700 million during Romney's last two full fiscal years in office, although it began running deficits again after that.

Romney supported raising various fees, including those for driver's licenses and gun licenses, to raise more than $300 million. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/W Battery

He increased a special gasoline retailer fee by two cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional revenue.Opponents said the reliance on fees sometimes imposed a hardship on those who could least afford them.Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years and over $300 million for his term. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MR Battery

He did so in the face of conservative and corporate critics who viewed these actions as tax increases.

The state legislature, with the governor's support, 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, Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG Battery

which led state-run colleges and universities to increase fees by 63 percent over four years.Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget; a heavily Democratic legislature overrode all the vetoes.

The cuts in state spending put added pressure on localities to reduce services or raise property taxes,Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery

and the share of town and city revenues coming from property taxes rose from 49 to 53 percent. The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship. He did propose a reduction in the state income tax rate that the legislature rejected.

Romney sought to bring near-universal health insurance coverage to the state.  Sony VAIO VGN-SR70B/S Battery

This came after Staples founder Stemberg told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people.Another factor was that the federal government, owing to the rules of Medicaid funding, threatened to cut $385 million in those payments to Massachusetts if the state did not reduce the number of uninsured recipients of health care services. Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/P Battery

Although the idea of universal health insurance had not come to the fore during the campaign, Romney decided that because people without insurance still received expensive health care, the money spent by the state for such care could be better used to subsidize insurance for the poor.

Determined that a new Massachusetts health insurance measure not raise taxes or resemble the previous decade's failed "Hillarycare" proposal at the federal level, Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/S Battery

Romney formed a team of consultants from diverse political backgrounds to apply those principles.  Beginning in late 2004, they devised a set of proposals that were more ambitious than an incremental one from the Massachusetts Senate and more acceptable to him than one from the Massachusetts House of Representatives that incorporated a new payroll tax. Sony VAIO VGN-SR73JB/S Battery

In particular, Romney pushed for incorporating an individual mandate at the state level.^[20]Past rival Ted Kennedy, who had made universal health coverage his life's work and who, over time, had developed a warm relationship with Romney,gave the plan a positive reception, which encouraged Democratic legislators to cooperate. Sony VAIO VGN-SR74FB/S Battery

The effort eventually gained the support of all major stakeholders within the state, and Romney helped break a logjam between rival Democratic leaders in the legislature.

On April 12, 2006, the governor signed the resulting Massachusetts health reform law, commonly called "Romneycare", Sony VAIO VGN-SR90FS Battery

which requires nearly all Massachusetts residents to buy health insurance coverage or face escalating tax penalties, such as the loss of their personal income tax exemption.The bill also established means-tested state subsidies for people who lacked adequate employer insurance and whose income was below a threshold, using funds that had covered the health costs of the uninsured. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90NS Battery

He vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including a controversial $295-per-employee assessment on businesses that do not offer health insurance and provisions guaranteeing dental benefits to Medicaid recipients.The legislature overrode all eight vetoes, but the governor's office said the differences were not essential. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90S Battery

The law was the first of its kind in the nation and became the signature achievement of Romney's term in office.

At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions, but advocated tolerance and supported some domestic partnership benefits. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90US Battery

A November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision required the state to recognize same-sex marriages (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health).^[210] Romney reluctantly backed a state constitutional amendment in February 2004 that would have banned those marriages but still allowed civil unions, viewing it as the only feasible way to accomplish the former. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91NS Battery

In May 2004, in compliance with the court decision, the governor instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, 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, he said no marriage licenses were to be issued to those people not planning to move to Massachusetts. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91PS Battery

In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that it confused voters who opposed both same-sex marriage and civil unions.^[208] Instead, he endorsed a ballot initiative led by the Coalition for Marriage and Family (an alliance of socially conservative organizations) that would have banned same-sex marriage and made no provisions for civil unions. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91S Battery

In 2004 and 2006, he urged the U.S. Senate to vote in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.^[212][213]

In 2005, Romney revealed a change of view regarding abortion, moving from the pro-choice positions expressed during his 1994 and 2002 campaigns to a pro-lifeone in opposition to Roe v. Wade. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91US Battery

Romney attributed his conversion to an interaction with Harvard University biologist Douglas Melton, an expert onembryonic stem cell biology, although Melton vehemently disputed Romney's recollection of their conversation.^[214] Romney subsequently vetoed a bill on pro-life grounds that expanded access to emergency contraception in hospitals and pharmacies (the legislature overrode the veto). Sony VAIO VGN-SR92NS Battery

He also amended his position on embryonic stem cell research itself.^{[nb 14]}

Romney used a bully pulpit approach towards promoting his agenda, staging well-organized media events to appeal directly to the public rather than pushing his proposals in behind-doors sessions with the state legislature. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92PS Battery

He dealt with a public crisis of confidence in Boston's Big Dig project – that followed afatal ceiling collapse in 2006 – by wresting control of the project from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.After two years of negotiating the state's participation in the landmark Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that instituted a cap and trade arrangement for power plant emissions in the Northeast, Sony VAIO VGN-SR92S Battery

Romney pulled Massachusetts out of the initiative shortly before its signing in December 2005, citing a lack of cost limits for industry.^[216]

During 2004, Romney spent considerable effort trying to bolster the state Republican Party, but it failed to gain any seats in the state legislative elections that year. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92US Battery

Given a prime-time appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention, political figures began discussing him as a potential 2008 presidential candidate.^[218] Midway through his term, Romney decided that he wanted to stage a full-time run for president,^[219] and on December 14, 2005, announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93DS Battery

As chair of the Republican Governors Association, Romney traveled around the country, meeting prominent Republicans and building a national political network;^[219] he spent all, or parts of, more than 200 days out of state during 2006, preparing for his run.

The governor had a 61 percent job approval rating in public polls after his initial fiscal actions in 2003, Sony VAIO VGN-SR93JS Battery

although his approval rating subsequently declined,driven in part by his frequent out-of-state travel. Romney's approval rating stood at 34 percent in November 2006, ranking 48th of the 50 U.S. governors.Dissatisfaction with Romney's administration and the weak condition of the Republican state party were among several factors contributing to Sony VAIO VGN-SR93PS Battery