Mitt Romney

Upon returning to the U.S., Romney quickly married his high-school sweetheart Ann and enrolled in a dual-degree program offered by Harvard in which he earned an MBA and a law degree. After graduating, Romney was recruited by the Boston Consulting Group where he worked for two years before joining the highly-ranked Bain & Company.

Bain Capital

In 1973, Romney was asked to lead one of Bain's new ventures, Bain Capital. There, Romney became an expert in leveraged buyouts, an investing technique that requires individual investors to put down money in order to acquire group borrowing power to purchase a company. Once a company was purchased, Bain consultants would root out waste and streamline operations in order to sell the company at a profit. With Romney at the helm, Bain Capital grew from a seven-person shop to a 115 person-strong firm that controlled $4 billion in assets.

Romney was subsequently asked to rescue his parent company, Bain & Company, and become its CEO in 1990 after it accrued massive of debt and 1,000 people were at risk of losing their jobs. Romney put the company back on course in less than three years.

Political Career

Romney relied heavily on his business experience stabilizing troubled companies to justify his entrance into the political arena, just as his father had in his gubernatorial bid. In 1994 in his adopted state of Massachusetts, Romney ran a spirited underdog campaign for the U.S. Senate against longtime incumbent Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), eventually losing, 41 to 58 percent, but establishing his name statewide.

In 1999, Utah Governor Michael Leavitt (R) tapped Romney to save the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake after it was discovered its organizers bribed Olympic officials to secure the location and racked up hundreds of millions in debt."The tsunami of financial, banking, legal, government, morale and sponsor problems following the revelation of the bid scandal swamped the organization," Romney recalled in his memoir. "It was the most troubled turnaround I had ever seen."

Gubernatorial Bid

In the spring of 2002, Romney returned to Massachusetts run for governor and handily defeated Treasurer Shannon O'Brien (D) by ten points, 55 to 45 percent. As governor, Romney took office facing a $3 billion deficit but declared tax increases "off the table."By the end of his term in 2006 the state had a $700 million surplus.

2008 Presidential Bid

Romney didn't run for reelection and announced on February 13, 2007 he would run for the Republican nomination for president. Romney withdrew from the race less than a year later at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C., citing concerns that if he waited he might decrease McCain's chances of winning the general election. "In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," he said.

Romney placed second in the critical Iowa caucus behind former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R). This was interpreted as a crippling loss for Romney who had invested heavily in the state. Romney came in second again in New Hampshire, another state where his expectations outpaced results. Romney picked up a win in Wyoming, prompting him to deliver an Olympic-themed joke, "There have been three races so far. I've gotten two silvers and one gold - thank-you Wyoming." He did get the "gold" medal in Michigan, as well as in these other states: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada and Utah.

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