Mitt Romney

==2008 presidential campaign==
{{Main|Mitt Romney 2008 presidential campaign}}
{{See also|2008 Republican Party presidential primaries}}

Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, in [[Dearborn, Michigan]].<ref name="bg-ann">{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/14/on_big_day_mass_gets_little_note/|title=On big day, Mass. gets little note|author=Helman, Scott|author2=Ryan, Andrew|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=February 14, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325234431/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/14/on_big_day_mass_gets_little_note/|archive-date=March 25, 2007}}</ref> Again casting himself as a political outsider,<ref name="battle-239">Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', p. 239.</ref> his speech frequently invoked his father and his family, and stressed experiences in the private, public, and voluntary sectors that had brought him to this point.<ref name="bg-ann" /><ref name="dn-ann">{{Cite news |url=https://www.deseret.com/2007/2/13/20001820/romney-officially-enters-presidential-race |title=Romney officially enters presidential race |last=Struglinski |first=Suzanne |newspaper=[[Deseret News]] Morning News |location=Salt Lake City |date=February 13, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402072141/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1%2C5143%2C660195186%2C00.html |archive-date=April 2, 2015 }}</ref>

[[File:Mitt Romney visits Ames cropped.jpg|thumb|left|200px|alt=Mitt Romney addressing an audience from atop a stage|Holding an "Ask Mitt Anything" session in [[Ames, Iowa|Ames]], [[Iowa]], in May 2007]]

The campaign emphasized Romney's highly profitable career in the business world and his stewardship of the 2002 Olympics.<ref name="battle-238" /><ref name="gc-293" />{{#tag:ref|American political opinion periodically looked towards industry for business managers who it was thought could straighten out what was held to be wrong in the nation's capital. The track record of such efforts was at best mixed, with [[Lee Iacocca]] declining to run, Romney's father George and [[Steve Forbes]] failing to get far in the primaries, and [[Ross Perot]] staging one of the more successful third-party runs in American history.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Barry|last1=Libert|author-link=Barry Libert|title=Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign|first2=Rick|last2=Faulk|publisher=[[FT Press]]|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey|year=2009|isbn=978-0-13-702207-6|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0222/Does-America-need-a-CEO-in-the-Oval-Office|title=Does America need a CEO in the Oval Office?|first=Alan M.|last=Webber|newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=February 22, 2012|access-date=February 7, 2020|archive-date=February 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207133652/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0222/Does-America-need-a-CEO-in-the-Oval-Office|url-status=live}}</ref>|group="nb"}} He also had political experience as a governor, together with a political pedigree courtesy of his father (as well as many biographical parallels with him).{{#tag:ref|Biographical parallels between George and Mitt Romney include: Both served as Mormon missionaries in Europe and considered the experiences formative. Both pursued high school sweethearts single-mindedly until the women agreed to marry them several years later, then had families with four or five children. Both had very successful careers in business and became known for turning around failing companies or organizations. Both presided over a stake in the LDS Church. Both achieved their first elected position at age 55, as Republican governor of a Democratic-leaning state. The two bear a close physical resemblance at similar ages and both have been said to "look like a president". Both staged their first presidential run in the year they turned 60. Both were considered suspect by ideological conservatives within the Republican Party.<ref name="time-prof-2007" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2008/01/romney-plays-nostalgia-card-in-michigan-007848 |title=Romney plays nostalgia card in Michigan |last=Glass |first=Andrew |newspaper=[[Politico]] |date=January 13, 2008 |access-date=February 7, 2020 |archive-date=February 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207133653/https://www.politico.com/story/2008/01/romney-plays-nostalgia-card-in-michigan-007848 |url-status=live }}</ref> Neither protested publicly against the LDS Church policy that [[Black people and Mormonism|did not allow black people in its lay clergy]], although the elder Romney hoped the church leadership would revise the policy,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OegmAAAAIBAJ&pg=717,1492483|title=Romney Insists His Mormon Faith Won't Mar His Liberal Stand|first=Louis|last=Cassels|agency=[[United Press International]]|newspaper=[[Baltimore Afro-American]]|date=March 11, 1967|page=4|access-date=February 6, 2020|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224170417/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OegmAAAAIBAJ&pg=717,1492483|url-status=live}}</ref> and his son has said that he was greatly relieved when the church did so in 1978.<ref name="nyt-searching" /><ref name=Horowitz /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/22273924|access-date=February 7, 2020|title='Meet the Press' transcript for Dec. 16, 2007|work=Meet the Press|publisher=[[NBC News]]|date=December 16, 2007|archive-date=December 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229022519/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22273924/|url-status=live}}</ref> There are also obvious differences in their paths, including that George had a hardscrabble upbringing while Mitt's was affluent, and that Mitt far exceeded George's accomplishments in formal education. Another is that Mitt's personality is more reserved, private, and controlled than his father's was, traits he got from his mother Lenore,<ref name="nyt-lessons">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/politics/political-lessons-from-a-mothers-losing-run.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224085100/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/politics/political-lessons-from-a-mothers-losing-run.html |archive-date=February 24, 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Political Lessons, From a Mother's Losing Run|first=Sheryl Gay|last=Stolberg|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 23, 2012|page=1}}</ref> and his political personality is also shaped at least as much by Lenore as by George.<ref name="time-dreams" /> And while George was willing to defy political trends, Mitt has been much more willing to adapt to them.<ref name="time-prof-2007" /><ref name="time-dreams" /><ref name="tnr-cohn" />|group="nb"}} Ann Romney, who had become an advocate for those with multiple sclerosis,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/09/13/ann_romney_tackles_multiple_sclerosis_head_on/|title=Ann Romney tackles multiple sclerosis head-on|author=Melanson, Mike|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=September 13, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030919050413/http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/09/13/ann_romney_tackles_multiple_sclerosis_head_on/|archive-date=September 19, 2003}}</ref> was in remission and was an active participant in his campaign,<ref name="lat112407">{{Cite news|author=Fiore, Fay|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-24-na-perfect24-story.html|access-date=February 7, 2020|title=Working to break his own storybook spell|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=November 24, 2007|archive-date=February 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207133655/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-24-na-perfect24-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> helping to soften his political personality.<ref name="GQ-draper" /> Media stories called the {{convert|6|ft|2|in|m|adj=on}} Romney handsome;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/caveman-politics-point-mitt-romney-presidential-winner-study/story?id=14755562|title=Caveman Politics: Americans Like Their Presidents Tall|first=Susan Donaldson|last=James|work=[[ABC News]]|date=October 18, 2011|access-date=February 7, 2020|archive-date=January 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113083408/https://abcnews.go.com/Health/caveman-politics-point-mitt-romney-presidential-winner-study/story?id=14755562|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/02/25/governor-romney-meet-governor-romney.html|title=Governor Romney, Meet Governor Romney|first1=Jonathan|last1=Darman|first2=Evan|last2=Thomas|author-link2=Evan Thomas|magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=February 25, 2007|access-date=February 24, 2013|archive-date=March 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309183406/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/02/25/governor-romney-meet-governor-romney.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/17152644/ns/NBC_News-hardball_with_chris_matthews/t/hardball-chris-matthews-feb/ |title='Hardball with Chris Matthews' for Feb. 13|work=[[Hardball with Chris Matthews]]|publisher=[[NBC News]]|date=February 14, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/obama-on-language/|title=Obama on Language|first=Mark|last=Leibovich|date=December 30, 2007|access-date=February 7, 2020|archive-date=January 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113083808/https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/obama-on-language/|url-status=live}}</ref> a number of commentators noted that with his square jaw and ample hair graying at the temples, he matched a common image of what a president should look like.<ref name="atl-pappu" /><ref name="econ-prof-2007">{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9441455|title=Mr Smooth of Massachusetts|magazine=[[The Economist]]|date=July 5, 2007|access-date=February 20, 2020|archive-date=June 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610201456/http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9441455|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2007/02/is-romney-too-good-to-be-true-002737|title=Is Romney Too Good To Be True?|last=Simon|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Simon (journalist)|newspaper=[[Politico]]|date=February 13, 2007|access-date=February 7, 2020|archive-date=January 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113083515/https://www.politico.com/story/2007/02/is-romney-too-good-to-be-true-002737|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/03/gb.01.html|access-date=February 7, 2020|title=Transcript: Glenn Beck, January 3, 2007: "Are We Ready for Another Attack?; 2008 Elections Gearing Up"|work=[[Glenn Beck Program#Headline News era|Glenn Beck Program]]|publisher=[[CNN Headline News]]|date=January 3, 2007|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804232145/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/03/gb.01.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Romney's liabilities included having run for senator and serving as governor in one of the nation's most liberal states and having taken positions in opposition to the party's conservative base during that time.<ref name="battle-238" /><ref name="gc-293" /><ref name="lat112407" /> Late during his term as governor, he had shifted positions and emphases to better align with [[Social conservatism in the United States|traditional conservatives on social issues]].<ref name="battle-238" /><ref name="gc-293" /><ref name="lat112407" /> Skeptics, including some Republicans, charged Romney with opportunism and a lack of core principles.<ref name="slate-ceo" /><ref name="bgseries7" /><ref name="gc-295" /> As a Mormon, he faced suspicion and skepticism by some in the [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] wing of the party.<ref name="gc-295">Heilemann and Halperin, ''Game Change'', pp. 294–295.</ref>

For his campaign, Romney assembled a veteran group of Republican staffers, consultants, and pollsters.<ref name="gc-293">Heilemann and Halperin, ''Game Change'', pp. 293–294.</ref><ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', pp. 251–252.</ref> But he was little-known nationally, and hovered around 10% support in [[Nationwide opinion polling for the Republican Party 2008 presidential candidates|Republican preference polls for the first half of 2007]].<ref name="battle-238" /> He proved the most effective fundraiser of any of the Republican candidates and also partly financed his campaign with his own personal fortune.<ref name="gc-293" /><ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', p. 247.</ref> These resources, combined with the mid-year near-collapse of nominal front-runner [[John McCain]]'s campaign, made Romney a threat to win the nomination and the focus of the other candidates' attacks.<ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', pp. 261–263.</ref> Romney's staff suffered from internal strife; Romney himself was at times indecisive, often asking for more data before making a decision.<ref name="gc-293" /><ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', p. 276.</ref>

During all his political campaigns, Romney has avoided speaking publicly about Mormon doctrines, referring to [[No Religious Test Clause|the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of religious tests for public office]].<ref name="speech">{{Cite news |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1207/p01s03-uspo.html |title=Romney moves to allay Mormon concerns directly |last=Feldmann |first=Linda |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=December 11, 2007 |access-date=February 7, 2020 |archive-date=February 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207133653/https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1207/p01s03-uspo.html |url-status=live }}</ref> But persistent questions about the role of religion in his life, as well as [[Southern Baptist]] minister and former [[Governor of Arkansas]] [[Mike Huckabee]]'s rise in the polls based on an explicitly Christian-themed campaign, led to Romney's December 6, 2007, [[Mitt Romney's "Faith in America" speech|"Faith in America" speech]].<ref name="fox120607" /> In it, Romney declared, "I believe in my Mormon faith and endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs."<ref name="FaithRise" /> He added that he should be neither elected nor rejected because of his religion,<ref name="msn120607">{{Cite news|url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/06/499942.aspx |title=On the Ground at Romney Speech |author=McPike, Erin |publisher=[[MSNBC]]|date=December 6, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208015944/http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/06/499942.aspx |archive-date=December 8, 2007}}</ref> and echoed Senator [[John F. Kennedy]]'s famous speech during [[John F. Kennedy#1960 presidential election|his 1960 presidential campaign]] in saying, "I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law."<ref name="fox120607">{{Cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/mitt-romney-pledges-to-serve-no-one-religion-in-faith-speech |title=Mitt Romney Pledges to Serve No One Religion in Faith Speech|publisher=[[Fox News]]|date=December 6, 2007|access-date=April 12, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204103902/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315486,00.html|archive-date=February 4, 2011|url-status=live }}</ref> Instead of discussing the specific tenets of his faith, he said he would be informed by it, saying: "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone."<ref name="fox120607" /><ref name="msn120607" /> Academics later studied the role religion played in the campaign.{{#tag:ref|Regarding the role of Romney's religion in the 2008 campaign, one academic study, based upon research conducted throughout the 2008 primaries, showed that a negative perception of [[Mormonism]] was widespread during the election, and that perception was often resistant to factual information that would correct mistaken notions about the religion or Romney's relationship to it.<ref name="campbell-green-monson">{{cite conference|author=Campbell, David |author2=Green, John Green |author3=Monson, J. Quin |year=2009 |title=Framing Faith: How Voters Responded to Candidates' Religions in the 2008 Presidential Campaign |conference=Annual meeting of the [[American Political Science Association]] |location=Toronto |url=http://americandemocracy.nd.edu/assets/16823/campbellmonsongreen_apsa2009_final.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611060049/http://americandemocracy.nd.edu/assets/16823/campbellmonsongreen_apsa2009_final.pdf |archive-date=June 11, 2010 }}</ref> The authors concluded that, "For Romney&nbsp;... religion ''is'' the central story."<ref name="campbell-green-monson" /> Another study, analyzing a survey conducted during January 2008 (when an African American, a woman, and a Mormon all had realistic chances of becoming the first president from that group), found that voters had internally accepted the notion of black equality, paving the way for [[Barack Obama]]'s election; had partially established but not fully internalized the notion of gender equality, making [[Hillary Clinton]]'s task somewhat more difficult; but had only selectively internalized the notion of religious equality, and in particular not extended it to Mormons, thus making Romney's run significantly more difficult.<ref name="monson-riding">{{cite conference|author=Monson, J. Quin |author2=Riding, Scott|year=2009|title=Social Equality Norms for Race, Gender and Religion in the American Public During the 2008 Presidential Primaries|conference=The Transformative Election of 2008|location=Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Ohio State University|url=http://polisci.osu.edu/conferences/2008election/papers/Monson.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720024339/http://polisci.osu.edu/conferences/2008election/papers/Monson.pdf|archive-date=July 20, 2011}}</ref> Those authors concluded that, "for a Mormon candidate, the road to the presidency remains very rough&nbsp;... The bias against a Mormon candidate is substantial."<ref name="monson-riding" /> |group="nb"}}
[[File:Romrally.png|thumb|Romney and supporters campaigning in [[New Hampshire]], September 2007]]
The campaign's strategy called for winning the initial two contests – the January 3, 2008, [[2008 Iowa Republican caucuses|Iowa Republican caucuses]] and the January 8 [[United States presidential election in New Hampshire, 2008|New Hampshire primary]] – to propel Romney nationally.<ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', p. 251.</ref> But he took second place in both, losing Iowa to Huckabee, who received more than twice the evangelical Christian votes,<ref name="battle-280">Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', pp. 280–281.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/03/iowa.caucuses/index.html |first1=Mark |last1=Preston |first2=Peter |last2=Hamby |first3=Dana |last3=Bash |first4=Candy |last4=Crowley |title=Huckabee, Obama have huge night in Iowa |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=January 4, 2008 |access-date=February 7, 2020 |archive-date=January 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113083358/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/03/iowa.caucuses/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and New Hampshire to the resurgent McCain.<ref name="battle-280" /> Huckabee and McCain criticized Romney's image as a [[Flip-flop (politics)|flip-flopper]]<ref name="battle-280" /> and this label stuck to Romney through the campaign<ref name="gc-293" /> (one that Romney rejected as unfair and inaccurate, except for his acknowledged change of mind on abortion).<ref name="GQ-draper">{{cite news|url=https://www.gq.com/story/almost-human|title=Almost Human|author=Draper, Robert|magazine=[[GQ (magazine)|GQ]]|date=February 1, 2008|author-link=Robert Draper|access-date=February 7, 2020|archive-date=February 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207133655/https://www.gq.com/story/almost-human|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="bg-mag" /> Romney seemed to approach the campaign as a management consulting exercise, and showed a lack of personal warmth and political feel; journalist [[Evan Thomas]] wrote that Romney "came off as a phony, even when he was perfectly sincere".<ref name="GQ-draper" /><ref>Thomas, ''"A Long Time Coming"'', p. 45.</ref> The fervor with which Romney adopted his new stances and attitudes contributed to the perception of inauthenticity that hampered the campaign.<ref name="nykr2007" /><ref name="nyt030511" /> His staff concluded that competing as a candidate of social conservatism and ideological purity rather than of pragmatic competence had been a mistake.<ref name="GQ-draper" />

McCain's win [[2008 United States presidential election in South Carolina|in South Carolina]] and Romney's [[Michigan Republican primary, 2008|in his childhood home Michigan]] set up a pivotal battle in the January 29 [[Florida Republican primary, 2008|Florida primary]].<ref name="battle-284">Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', pp. 283–285.</ref><ref name="gc-313">Heilemann and Halperin, ''Game Change'', pp. 312–313.</ref> Romney campaigned intensively on economic issues and the burgeoning [[subprime mortgage crisis]], while McCain attacked Romney on Iraq policy and benefited from endorsements from Florida officeholders.<ref name="battle-284" /><ref name="gc-313" /> McCain won by five points.<ref name="battle-284" /><ref name="gc-313" /> Although many Republican officials were now lining up behind McCain,<ref name="gc-313" /> Romney persisted through the nationwide [[Super Tuesday, 2008|Super Tuesday]] contests on February 5. There he won primaries or caucuses in several states, but McCain won in more and in larger-population ones.<ref name="cnn020708">{{Cite news |title=Romney suspends presidential campaign |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=February 7, 2008 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/07/romney.campaign/index.html |access-date=February 7, 2008 |archive-date=September 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902191057/http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/07/romney.campaign/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Trailing McCain in delegates by a more than two-to-one margin, Romney announced the end of his campaign on February 7.<ref name="cnn020708" />

Altogether, Romney had won 11 primaries and caucuses,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/#R|title=Election Center 2008: Delegate Scorecard|publisher=[[CNN]]|access-date=April 11, 2010|archive-date=June 4, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604022436/http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/#R|url-status=live}}</ref> receiving about 4.7 million votes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/republican_vote_count.html|title=2008 Republican Popular Vote|publisher=[[RealClearPolitics]]|access-date=April 13, 2010|archive-date=June 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617010429/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/republican_vote_count.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and garnering about 280 delegates.<ref name="AP-Sidoti-2008-02-14"/> He spent $110 million during the campaign, including $45 million of his own money.<ref name="bg071708">{{Cite news|author=Kranish, Michael|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/17/romney_not_getting_his_45m_back/ |title=Romney not getting his $45m back: Says he won't seek gifts to repay campaign loans|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=July 17, 2008|author-link=Michael Kranish|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103161144/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/17/romney_not_getting_his_45m_back/?page=1|archive-date=January 3, 2009}}</ref>

Romney endorsed McCain for president a week later,<ref name="AP-Sidoti-2008-02-14">
{{cite news|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MCCAIN_ROMNEY?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT|title=Ex-GOP candidate Romney endorses McCain|last=Sidoti|first=Liz|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=February 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215084205/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MCCAIN_ROMNEY?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT|archive-date=February 15, 2008}}</ref> and McCain had Romney on a [[short list]] for running mate, where his business experience would have balanced one of McCain's weaknesses.<ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', pp. 328, 331.</ref> Behind in the polls, McCain opted instead for a high-risk, high-reward "game changer", [[Governor of Alaska|Alaska Governor]] [[Sarah Palin]].<ref>Balz and Johnson, ''The Battle for America 2008'', pp. 334–335.</ref> McCain lost the election to Democratic senator [[Barack Obama]].