Dearborn, Mich. – Mitt Romney ran away from home Tuesday to seek a new one – the White House.
The former one-term governor of Massachusetts decided not to kick off his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in that state, which conjures images of liberal Democrats such as Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry.
Instead, he flew to his childhood home of Michigan, hoping to wrap himself in the mantle of conservative Midwest values. His venue was the Henry Ford Museum, whose icons of industrial innovation he used as symbols of his private-sector background, which he said gave him can-do management skills rarely found in government and absent in his political rivals.
Romney, 59, hopes that twin-theme approach will set him apart from a long line of Massachusetts liberals – and from such likely Republican rivals as Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who have longer résumés in public office.
“I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by lifelong politicians,” Romney said. “There have been too many deals, too many favors, too many entanglements and too little real-world experience managing, guiding and leading.”
Romney underscored his record as a man who gets things done – successful venture capitalist, the man who rescued the scandal-plagued and debt-ridden 2002 Winter Olympics – as well as a governor who restored his state’s fiscal health and expanded health care.
“I do not believe Washington can be transformed by someone … who has never run a corner store,” he told several hundred supporters.
Romney said he staged his announcement in the vast Henry Ford Museum to underscore the country’s history of innovation.
“If ever there were a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now,” he said.
He stood before a Rambler 550 automobile designed when his father chaired the auto company that made it, calling it the first American car designed and marketed for fuel efficiency.
“It transformed the industry,” he said.
His father, George Romney, went on to serve as governor of Michigan in the 1960s. The company, American Motors, later was acquired by Chrysler Corp.
Mitt Romney would be the first Mormon president, a potential hurdle in a country where polls show people more ready to elect the first woman or first African-American. But so far, Romney faces skepticism among the party’s influential Christian conservatives more for his stands on issues than for his faith.
He supported abortion rights in earlier Massachusetts campaigns and told gays in a 1994 campaign against Kennedy that he would advocate gay rights.
Yet as governor, he pushed to put a gay-marriage ban on the state ballot, and he now says he opposes abortion rights.
Willard Mitt Romney
Age: 59; born March 12, 1947, in Detroit.
Education: B.A., Brigham Young University, 1971; MBA, Harvard Business School, 1975; J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1975.
Career: Romney is the former chief executive of a management consulting firm and co-founder of a private investment firm. He ran unsuccessfully against Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994. He was the chief executive and organizer of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and served one four-year term.
Family: Married Ann Davies in 1968. They have five sons and 10 grandchildren. He is the son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney.
Issue: “What is it about America’s culture and values that makes us such a successful nation and society? Part of that is we love liberty, we love our country, we’re patriotic,” Romney said at a prayer breakfast last spring in Boston. “I believe it’s also because we are a people who love God and look for a purpose greater than ourselves in life.”
Information: www.mittromney.com
