REPORT: Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate

Romney, 65,  lost the 2008 Republican presidential nomination to Senator John McCain but entered this year's race with a large campaign war chest and the blessing of many in the party establishment. Conservative unease over his reputation as a moderate led to a stiff challenge in the Republican primaries.

His net worth has been estimated at between $190 million and $250 million, making him one of the wealthiest people to ever run for the presidency.

He was a Mormon missionary in France for more than two years after leaving high school and later became bishop and stake president in Boston, roles akin to being a lay pastor. His faith, however, is viewed with suspicion by some conservative evangelical Christians. Born into a well-off family and raised near Detroit, Romney was exposed to politics early.

His father, George, was chairman of American Motors Corporation and governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969.

In 1994, ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts as a moderate Republican, but was handily defeated by incumbent Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy.

Eight years later, Romney was elected governor of Massachusetts, where he instituted a statewide healthcare reform that became a model for Obama's 2010 national healthcare overhaul.

Romney met his wife, Ann, at a high school dance and they married in 1969, while they were still in college. They have five sons and 18 grandchildren. Romney has an English degree from Utah's Brigham Young University, which is owned and run by the Mormon church, and a joint law degree and MBA from Harvard. He speaks French.  


REUTERS

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