Mitt Romney stole the New Hampshire Primary victory by a mile with 39.3% of the vote—not surprising, since New England is his home turf and he dedicated a great deal of time to the state. Ron Paul was second with 22.9% of the vote (with 37,000 more votes than he had in 2008 in NH) and Jon Huntsman was third with 16.9%.
For this blog post I want to focus on Mitt Romney. Since even before the 2012 Presidential Race really began in earnest, Romney has led in the polls and has seemed the first choice of many Republicans. The man gives a good speech, and certainly looks like a President… and some of the things he says during debates have sounded promising, as if he really does represent Conservative ideals, contrary to the current administration. But does his past back up his claims of the present? Is he Conservative “enough”? Will Republicans “settle” for him because they think he is the only candidate capable of beating Barack Obama?
Romney is a businessman, and without a doubt he was successful in the private sector. He started Bain Capital in 1984, a private equity investment firm, and invested in or acquired companies like Sports Authority, Brookstone, and Domino’s Pizza. Bain & Company, the parent company from which Bain Capital was a spinoff, began to suffer financially and Romney became the CEO in 1991. Also of note: Romney and Bain Capital were given a $10 million bailout from the FDIC in 1993 when the company ran into financial trouble. Bain & Company’s finances were turned around and Romney was the CEO until 2002 when he became the President and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee.
While at Bain, Romney says he created over 100,000 jobs in the companies he worked with (i.e Sports Authority, Staples, Domino’s). What his critics (Newt Gingrich!) are quick to point out: “But like Romney’s work on all the businesses Bain invested in, the primary goal with these companies wasn’t job creation but making them more profitable and valuable. This meant embracing aspects of capitalism that have unsettled some Americans: laying off workers when necessary, expanding overseas to chase profits and paying top executives significantly more than employees on lower rungs.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/mitt-romney-bain-capital-and-the-gospel-of-creative-destruction/2012/01/09/gIQAfRKEsP_story_1.html
Keep in mind that profits are the first concern in capitalism, not creating jobs. Though Romney created a lot of jobs, many employees in the companies he worked with were also laid off. Please don’t think I’m bashing capitalism—I’m definitely not! I’m probably one of its biggest advocates. I’m simply trying to bring to light that the fact that Romney did lay off employees could come back to haunt him in debates against Barack Obama if he becomes the nominee.
Before Romney took over, the Olympics were falling $379 million short on revenue. He reduced budgets and increased fundraising and oversaw a budget of $1.32 million. The games cleared a profit of $100 million.
Romney ran for Massachusetts senator in 1994 but lost, and later served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, the only political position he’s held. When he took office, Massachusetts faced a deficit of $3 billion. While in office, he cut spending and balanced the state’s budget each year he was in office. He’s proud to say that he turned Massachusetts around fiscally without raising taxes. Romney raised government fees (marriage licenses, gun licenses, court filings, other state licenses, etc.) and imposed new ones (33 new, 57 increased). This brought in revenues of $240 million.
Massachusetts, under Romney’s leadership, also adopted universal health care for the state (“Romneycare”) in 2006. This mandated all citizens of Massachusetts to buy health insurance, or face a penalty. Here’s an excerpt from a Cato Institute article on Romney’s healthcare plan:
“Perhaps the most publicized aspect of the Massachusetts reform is its mandate that every resident have health insurance, whether provided by an employer or the government or purchased individually. "I like mandates," Romney said during a debate in New Hampshire. "The mandate works." But did it? …
Such a mandate was, of course, a significant infringement on individual choice and liberty. As the Congressional Budget Office noted, the mandate was "unprecedented," and represented the first time that a state has required that an individual, simply because they live in a state and for no other reason, must purchase a specific government- designated product. …
The subsidies may have increased the number of Massachusetts citizens with insurance, but as many as 400,000 Massachusetts residents by some estimates have failed to buy the required insurance. That includes the overwhelming majority of those with incomes too high to qualify for state subsidies. Fewer than 30,000 unsubsidized residents have signed up as a result of the mandate. And that is on top of the 60,000 of the state’s uninsured who were exempted from the mandate because buying insurance would be too much of a financial burden.
The Massachusetts plan might not have achieved universal coverage, but it has cost taxpayers a great deal of money. Originally, the plan was projected to cost $1.8 billion this year [2008]. Now it is expected to exceed those estimates by $150 million. Over the next 10 years, projections suggest that Romney- Care will cost about $2 billion more than was budgeted. And the cost to Massachusetts taxpayers could be even higher because new federal rules could deprive the state of $100 million per year in Medicaid money that the state planned to use to help finance the program.”
http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v30n1/cpr30n1-1.html
Romney stands by his decision to enact universal healthcare in Massachusetts, saying: “…our plan was right for our state. …The plan is not perfect, there are things that I’d change in it, but I’ll stand by the things we’ve done.”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/mitt-romney-defends-romneycare-will-do-what-i-think-is-right-for-the-people-i-represent/
In the past, Romney’s views on social issues have changed. He went from being pro-choice to pro-life, from being a supporter of gay marriage to an advocate for the traditional family. He embraces the fact that his opinions have changed over the years. Specifically on the issue of abortion: “He supported abortion rights when he ran for Senate in 1994 and for governor of Massachusetts in 2002. But when he was in office, Romney said, an embryonic stem cell research bill came to his desk that ‘would have created new life for the purposes of experimenting on it and then destroying it. I simply could not sign a bill that would take life,” Romney said. “I recognized that was a very different course than I’d expected.’”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-says-changing-positions-can-be-a-good-thing/2011/12/22/gIQA9TeUBP_blog.html
Well, there you have it—the facts of Mitt Romney’s record (also, if you haven’t yet, check out my blog post about campaign contributors to GOP candidates—it’s the post below this one). Now to discuss the question, is he electable? I think Romney is the person the Republican establishment wants to elect to run against Obama, and he’s heavily attacked by only a few, mainly Newt Gingrich. He may look like the strongest candidate right now, but when standing next to Obama, will the left try to paint him as “disconnected with the average American” because of his corporate connections?
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/01/09/donna_brazile_lets_the_cat_out_of_the_bag_dems_want_to_run_against_romney
Here are Fox News’ Exit Polls from the New Hampshire Primary. Take a minute to scroll through the results. The wealthier voters seemed to favor Romney, and the Independent vote was split quite close between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
I hope this post gave you some insight into the record and past view points of Mitt Romney. What do you think? Is Mitt Romney “Conservative enough” for you? Will Romney connect with voters of all or of varying demographics? Can he beat Barack Obama?
http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2012/01/10/sarah-palin-and-rush-limbaugh-agree-mitt-romney-is-obamas-candidate-of-choice/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58952.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/09/the-i-holy-cow-i-candidate/4196/3/
http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=843
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/fact-checker-biography-romneys-fiscal-policies-as-governor/2011/10/27/gIQAoJUmPM_blog.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1619536,00.html
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