2012 Candidate Cheat Sheet: Mitt Romney

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2012 Candidate Cheat Sheet: Mitt Romney

On Aug 07, 2011

Losing track of all the candidates in the 2012 election? Keep forgetting who stand where on which issues and why? Don't worry, PoliticOlogy's got your back with our recurring feature, the 2012 Candidate Cheat Sheet. We'll give you a little background on each candidate, what they love, what they hate, and hopefully a few funny facts that you can steal to make yourself look cool at parties. Don't worry, we don't mind. Enjoy!

Cheat Sheet: Herman Cain

Cheat Sheet: Michele Bachmann

Cheat Sheet: Ron Paul

Who He Is: Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been a politician, a businessman (as the head of Bain Capital), and even helped organize the Salt Lake City Olympics. Born in Michigan, Romney also spent time in France as a Mormon missionary before obtaining an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University and a joint JD/MBA from Harvard. He also ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, where he made a strong showing in several primaries but eventually lost out to John McCain.

Why He'll Win:

Romney is viewed as one of the more moderate candidates in the current Republican field. He is not a Tea Partier, has a more traditional political background, and has refrained from making many incendiary comments at this point in the campaign. However, he can still pull in the social conservatives because of his devout reigious background.
Romney sports leadership experience, both as a businessman and as the Governor of Massachusetts. He also has some experience running for the Presidency, as well as the name recognition he gained from a very respectable attempt at the nomination in 2008.
He's got money. Mitt is handily out-fundraising the rest of the Republican field right now, and we all know that money goes a long way towards winning elections. Oh, and those fundraising numbers aren't even including his fairly sizable personal wealth from his successful tenure at Bain Capital.

Why He'll Lose:

Mitt's a Mormon, and if history is any indicator, American Presidents are also Protestants. Although Mormonism is gaining more aceptance, especially among social conservatives, national polls have not been favorable toward the idea of a Latter Day Saint Commander-in-Chief.
Romney's not very exciting. This is the flip side of being moderate and electable, you also end up looking like every other politician out there. Romney will not be able to energize the Tea Party base the way a Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin can, and that could hurt him in the long run.
One word: Romneycare. As Governor of Massachusetts, Romney enacted a statewide healthcare reform that many have likened to the national version championed by President Obama. You know, that bill that semingly every Republican has tagged as the worst thing to happen in the history of this country.

SumOlogy: The odds-on favorite for the nomination. Even with a few political and religious skeletons in his closet, Romney has the money and moderate appeal to make a very serious run at the presidency.

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Follow Jonathan Moormann on Twitter: @HeedTheWalrus.

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