Mitt Romney President Candidate Summary:

Mitt Romney

President Candidate Summary: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is the son of the former Governor of Michigan, and is named after the nickname of the state "The Mitt State." He was born into a Mormon family, which means he is quite conservative, and he has studied abroad as a Mormon missionary in France. He earned a joint JD and MBA from Harvard University, and soon entered the financial sector at Bain Capital, managing companies that were struggling in one-way or another. These years as an executive taught Mitt Romney the value of business, and gave him many connections and many millions of dollars along the way. His business success is touted as one of the best reasons to elect Mitt Romney president in 2012.

Mitt Romney was elected Governor of Massachusetts, where he served as governor from 2002 to 2006. As Governor, Mitt Romney enacted his signature Health Bill, a mixture of private sector insurance providers and government regulation, which had pleased the people of Massachusetts. This bill was later modified and expanded upon by President Barack Obama in his 2009 health care bill. The passing of health care legislation is one of the most controversial issues in present-day domestic politics, and therefore many republicans do not accept Mitt Romney as one of their own. He ran for President in 2008, but was defeated in the primaries by John McCain, although with relatively good showing throughout.

Mitt Romney is known as a businessman and a financial conservative. He believes that lower taxation on the rich results in the creation of more jobs in the economy, as wealthy Americans reinvest their money back into the private sector. This policy is in contradiction to the policy of taxing the wealthy in order to provide benefits to the poor or unemployed, who are seen as negatively contributing to society as a whole.

On the issue of foreign affairs, Romney has called on a greater confrontation with Iran over its Nuclear Weapons program. The defense of Israel has been a top priority for the Romney campaign, particularly when speaking to Jewish voters in Florida. Also, Mitt Romney has been casting himself as the natural choice for President because his business experience as a money manager has given him the experience necessary to deal with the ongoing trade conflicts with China.

Mitt Romney is not as socially conservative as some of the other Republican candidates, and has seen his Mormon faith being questioned, as it is outside of the mainstream Protestant line of faiths. He supports the institution of marriage and is against Gay Marriage in America. His policies and social record have been questioned for the time when he was in Massachusetts, but this has mostly been by the far right social conservatives. Aligning himself with independents, Romney has taken a traditional conservative approach to social issues. His record on the subject is difficult to translate to a national campaign, as Massachusetts has always been a liberal leaning state, and therefore the issues, which were the norm in Massachusetts, may be offensive or non-approving of in the rest of the country, particularly on the issue of gun rights.

Mitt Romney is running as the businessman in chief. He has had an incredibly successful business life thus far, and has a decent amount of political experience as Governor to provide a solid groundwork for being the next President of the United States. He firmly believes that he is the most capable man in this day and age to challenge Barack Obama, and he has many qualifications to back those claims up. He is a unique fixture to politics because despite his stint as governor, Mitt Romney has been sheltered from the political shenanigans of Washington DC for the past decade.

Because of his 2008 Presidential bid, Mitt Romney has had deep ties throughout the U.S. To political donor bases. This donation generating utility has served him just as well in the 2012 campaign, and will continue to compete against Barack Obama for fundraising in this election. The campaign was announced very early in 2011, and came as a surprise to no one, as the relative success of the campaign in 2008 only bolstered the eventual rise of Mitt Romney in this election season. This early announcement meant that Romney was able to seek counsel with every republican strategist possible, as well as construct his nationwide campaign in preparation for a long primary process.

Some big endorsements have gone Mitt Romney's way, from an early endorsement from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, to several endorsements from other republican governors around the country. Big names like Donald Trump have also recently endorsed Mitt Romney, proving that he has strong ties in the fiscally conservative business community. In the states in which Mitt Romney has faced primaries, he has received dozens of editorial and local endorsements from a plethora of different sources.

Mitt Romney is putting all of his time and money into markets he thinks that he can win, but also is trying to reach at least second place in every state that he cannot win. With this strategy, even in his weak states such as South Carolina, he still appears to be the second favorite, and the strength of his campaign is not questioned. Mitt Romney is most favored in states which have a lot of business interests at stake, such as Florida, Texas, California, and Pennsylvania. He will likely win the states that the Democrats are most certainly going to win, such as New York, yet these victories will still cement Mitt Romney as the firm choice for Republican challenger to present U.S. President Barack Obama.

Mitt Romney has a great likelihood of success in his bid for the GOP Presidential nomination. Being a clear and unchallenged winner in the next few contests will make him look strong in the lead up to the November election. In order to overcome weaknesses among the working class and poor GOP voters, Mitt Romney needs to spend extra time refining his image and speech performances for the future. If the economy becomes sour like it did in 2008, or if unemployment remains a persistent problem in the American workforce, then Mitt Romney's campaign will likely triumph in the fall.

In conclusion, Mitt Romney should definitely stay in the race, as he has had great success in Florida and New Hampshire, as well as taking second in both Iowa and South Carolina. His strengths outweigh his weaknesses to most republican primary voters so far, and thus Mitt Romney has a steady path ahead of him to officially receiving the GOP nomination this summer.

PART 2: Independent from part first part (1 page)