Primer On Mitt Romney

Hello from Minneapolis. I'll only say it's not cold here (yet), and get straight to business.

If you don’t recognize the name Mitt Romney, remember you read it here first. The sitting MA Governor, Romney, a devout Mormon Republican, is soon to receive much national media attention as that state over-politicizes the same-sex marriage issue.

Who is he? Father was Governor of Michigan. Harvard B-School. Harvard Law. BYU undergrad (there’s one strike against him). Multimillionaire. Founded Bain Capital in 1984, which in 2002 was worth $13 billion. Nearly defeated Ted Kennedy for Senate in 1994. Personally against abortion, but pro-choice as Governor. Rescued the scandal-clad Salt Lake City Winter Olympics as savior chair of the Organizing Committee. Shortly thereafter won the Massachusetts Governorship.

Learn more about him via these clicks:

• The On The Issues Romney backgrounder

• Romney’s 2002 gubernatorial election acceptance remarks

• The MA Office of the Governor

• His congressional testimony on homeland security

• A long and informative profile in Salt Lake’s Deseret News (note: the DN is owned by the LDS church and tends to skew conservative-favorable … nothing wrong with that, but readers unfamiliar with the DN should know the context)

There’s even a Mitt Romney affiliate blog (titled, surprisingly, “Mitt Romney Rules” … what, a teen-oriented pol-fanzine?) here.

Why should you care? It was a very big deal when JFK, a Catholic, ran for the always-Protestant office of President. If a Mormon Republican is going run with success on the national stage (we’re not counting Orrin Hatch’s never-inflated 2002 Presidential bid), it will be Mitt Romney. And I'll tell you what … if he were to run, he'd be a damn strong horse in the race.