Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America by Dan Balz Read Free Book Online Page A

and they began building a family of five rambunctious sons. He simultaneously took degrees from Harvard’s law school and its business school. He joined Bain & Company, where he was an immediate star, and when the founderdecided to form a new company, a private equity firm called Bain Capital, he recruited Romney to make it a success. The theory behind Bain Capital was that rather than simply offering consulting advice to troubled companies, the partners would also invest in them, sharing in the profits. Romney built his reputation as a shrewd technocrat who depended on careful analysis and deep number crunching to lead him to the right decisions. Every aspect of his life seemed grounded in dispassionate analysis. Kranish and Helman wrote that Romney once explained that “ he preferred eating only the tops of muffins, so as to avoid the butter that melted and sank during baking.” Bain proved to be a major success story, and Romney became fabulously wealthy along the way. By the time he ran for president a second time, his net worth was estimated at more than $200 million.
    In 1994, Romney decided it was time to try the other part of the family business, politics, challenging Edward M. Kennedy for the Senate. Kennedy was an icon in the state but a senator who had not faced a serious opponent in his recent campaigns. The political climate was challenging for Kennedy, as it was for Democrats across the nation that fall. By early September, polls showed the race almost even. Romney, who had been a registered independent until 1993, was running as a moderate-to-liberal Republican. He was pro-choice on abortion, as was his mother, Lenore. He said at one point that he would do more than Kennedy to ensure rights for gay and lesbian Americans. He declined to endorse the Contract with America, the campaign manifesto put together by Newt Gingrich, who was leading the Republican effort to take control of the U.S. House. In the early fall, the Kennedy campaign launched a counterattack. Kennedy would turn Bain Capital into a negative on Romney’s résumé. The campaign aired a series of ads featuring angry workers who portrayed Bain as a rapacious company that had forced layoffs and reduced wages at their firm. The ads had a devastating effect and drove Romney’s poll numbers lower. The final blow came in their first debate, when a theatrical and sarcastic Kennedy demolished his Republican rival. It was in that debate that Kennedy charged that Romney was a clone of Ronald Reagan. “Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush,” Romney replied, running away from his party. “I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.”
    In December 2011, the
Post
’s Philip Rucker and I interviewed Romney. We asked about that statement concerning Reagan and Bush and about his opposition to the Contract with America. “I applaud the fact that he was wise in crafting the Contract with America,” he said of Gingrich. “I didn’t think it was a very good political step. He was right; I was wrong. The Contract with America was a very effective political tool. I didn’t think it would be. It certainly was. I was, after all, in my first political race, and I learned not only from the wisdomof that contract, but also the wisdom of Ted Kennedy, who beat me soundly. And I have learned since that time, and I can tell you that over the years, my admiration and respect for the policies of Ronald Reagan has grown deeper and deeper.”
    After the loss to Kennedy, Romney returned to Bain. His next call to national service came in 1999, when he was asked to rescue the 2002 Winter Olympics, which were to be held in Salt Lake City. * The Salt Lake Organizing Committee had been hit with scandal over bribery and corruption. The winter games were short of funds and in deep trouble. Both the leaders of Salt Lake City and the state of Utah, along with much of the population, were humiliated by the corruption that had infected the committee. Romney took