Little-known details about Mitt Romney [Little-known? All it takes is a wiki-Google…]
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is among a dozen or more Republicans considering a presidential bid in 2008: [Sorry, I’m not a whip. Even with Duncan Hunter….12 or more? Well “or more,” apparently they can’t count at AP either.]
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INTERESTING NOTE: While a missionary in France, he was involved in a car accident. A police officer wrote on his passport: Il est mort (He is dead). [Forever making political reporters grateful for easy ledes when he’s looking down and out.]
DETAIL YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW: His first name is Willard. He was named for his father’s friend J. Willard Marriott. Mitt, his middle name, comes from a relative who played football for the Chicago Bears — Milton Romney. The governor went by ‘Billy’ in kindergarten. [Hilton and he’d have a problem on pure fatigue grounds thanks to Paris overexposure.]
CHALLENGE: He’s a Mormon and no Mormon has ever been elected president. [Though, praise the Angel Meroni, Harry Reid is helping break the stained-glass ceiling in the Beltway.]
CAREER NOTE: He simultaneously earned degrees from Harvard Business and Law schools, graduating cum laude from law school and in the top 5 percent of his business school class. [Making it way to easy for a “Not just a pretty face” lead-in. My money’s on Paula Zahn going first.]
PERSONAL: Married for 37 years to Ann Romney, whom he publicly calls “Sweetie.” Five sons and nine grandchildren.[Don’t even try the polygamy jokes here. Not with a Rudy and a Newt and a McCain…in this race.]
TOUGH ISSUES: Gay marriage and abortion, after a 2002 gubernatorial campaign in which he ran as a moderate. [For what northeastern Republican wouldn’t gay marriage and abortion be “tough” one way or another?]