Bloomberg News - As Republican Mitt Romney (pictured left) took the first official steps toward a presidential bid yesterday, he attacked President Barack Obama’s economic policies even while questions linger over his commitment to conservative causes.
“It is time that we put America back on a course of greatness, with a growing economy, good jobs and fiscal discipline inWashington,” Romney, 64, said in a video posted on his websitein which he announced that he is forming a committee to explore a 2012 race for the White House.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, is the second Republican to establish a presidential exploratory group, following former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Romney’s announcement came on the eve of the fifth anniversary of his signature on a health-care law in Massachusetts that some Republican activists have been urging him to disavow.
Romney has been planning a second run for the presidency since losing the Republican nomination in 2008 to Arizona Senator John McCain. National polls of likely Republican primary voters have shown him leading or one of the top contenders among a large group of potential candidates. Many Republicans view him as the “default candidate” for the nomination, said Jeffrey Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Establishment of the Massachusetts-based exploratory committee allows Romney to raise money for a presidential campaign and requires him to file financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.
As Romney’s efforts progress, he must deal with the challenge of proving his conservative credentials to a wide swath of the Republican political base, Berry said.
Policy Reversals
In the 2008 campaign, he was criticized over his reversals on social issues such as abortion and gay rights, which he no longer supports. When running unsuccessfully against then- Democratic incumbent Edward M. Kennedy for a U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts in 1994, Romney had backed legal abortion and advocated for gay rights.
As governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, Romney supported a law similar to the national health-care overhaul despised by many fiscal and social conservatives.
“He has to convince people he has a backbone, and that backbone is conservative through and through,” Berry said.
Romney also struggled in his previous presidential campaign to alley skepticism about his Mormon faith, particularly from evangelical Christians who make up a significant portion of the Republican electorate. If he runs and is elected, he would be the first Mormon president.
Romney invested more than $40 million of his own fortune in his 2008 presidential bid.
Business Background
In the video recorded yesterday at the University of New Hampshire announcing his exploratory committee, he touted his private-sector experience as a co-founder of Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital LLC and as CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
“From my vantage point in business and in government, I have become convinced that America has been put on a dangerous course by Washington politicians, and it has become even worse during the last two years,” Romney said. “But I am also convinced that with able leadership, America’s best days are still ahead.”
“Sometimes I was successful and helped create jobs, other times I was not,” he said. “I learned how America competes with companies in other countries, why jobs leave, and how jobs are created here at home,” he said.
Individual Mandate
Like the federal health-care law that Obama pushed through Congress last year and that Republicans are trying to overturn, the 2006 health-care measure in Massachusetts that Romney shepherded into law includes a mandate requiring individuals to purchase insurance.
Democrats are attempting to highlight his support for the state law by hosting mock birthday displays today in early primary states. In addition, Obama and White House officials have praised the Massachusetts law.
“I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he’s proud of what he accomplished on health care in Massachusetts and supports giving states the power to determine their own health- care solutions,” Obama said Feb. 28 in remarks to the country’s governors.
In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted March 31- April 4, 21 percent of Republican primary voters backed Romney, putting him ahead of nine other potential candidates.
Republican Rivals
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia on March 3 announced the start of a websiteto enable him to raise money and explore a presidential run. Other prospective 2012 Republican candidates include former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008; former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee; Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget; and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who is stepping down as ambassador to China this month.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has expressed interest in the race and has begun traveling to states that hold early primaries and caucuses, as have former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum ofPennsylvania and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a Tea Party favorite.
Businessman Donald Trump also is flirting with seeking the Republican nomination, saying he will announce in June whether he is a candidate.
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