In 1994, Mitt Romney supported a federal health care plan that included an individual mandate.
UPDATE: One, Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho doesn’t deny that Romney supported the plan with an individual mandate in 1994. Gitcho e-mailed National Review Online this response: “Governor Romney has made it very clear over the last many years, including during the 2008 presidential cycle, that he opposes a federally imposed individual mandate.”
Two, while we’re talking about Romney’s view of individual mandates over the years, it’s worth noting these Meet the Press quotes that the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent dug up from 2007:
ROMNEY: I’m a federalist. I don’t believe in applying what works in one state to all states if different states have different circumstances…Now, I happen to like what we did. I think it’s a good model for other states. Maybe not every state but most, and so what I’d do at the federal level is give every state the same kind of flexibility we got from the federal government as well as some carrots and sticks to actually get all their citizens insured. And I think a lot of states will choose what we did. I wouldn’t tell them they have to do our plan…
MR. RUSSERT: So if a state chose a mandate, it wouldn’t bother you?
MR. ROMNEY: I’d think it’s a terrific idea. I think you’re going to find when it’s all said and done, after all these states that are the laboratories of democracy, get their chance to try their own plans, but those who follow the path that we pursued will find it’s the best path, and we’ll end up with a nation that’s taken a mandate approach.