Former Massachusetts Governor Throws Hat Into Ring for 2008
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday announced his presidential candidacy, the Baltimore Sun reports. He said, "This is not a time for more talk and dithering in Washington" but "for action" (Pearson, Baltimore Sun, 2/14).
Romney said that U.S. families are made stronger when health care is available for all. "This was the agenda I pursued as governor of Massachusetts, and it's the agenda I will pursue if I'm elected your president," he said.
According to the Boston Globe, Romney in his speech did not mention "the landmark health care plan he helped craft" as governor of Massachusetts (Helman, Boston Globe, 2/14).
Conservative critics of Romney have questioned "whether he has become a recent convert to conservatism on social issues such as abortion ... after previously holding more moderate positions," the Sun reports (Baltimore Sun, 2/14). Romney now says he would support overturning Roe v. Wade (Kornblut, Washington Post, 2/14).