USA-08

Willard Mitt Romney (standard IPA pronunciation: ˡwɪlɚd ˡmɪt ˡɹɑmni), usually known as Mitt (born March 12, 1947), was the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, elected in 2002. He served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term ended January 4, 2007.^[1] Romney is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, having formally announced his candidacy on February 13, 2007. He made his announcement at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.^[2]

Romney is a former CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and the co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. Prior to Bain, he worked for The Boston Consulting Group. Romney is credited with rescuing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah from potential bankruptcy as the Salt Lake Olympic Committee’s CEO and organizer. In 1994, Romney led an unsuccessful Senate campaign against incumbent Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.