Presidential Election 2012
Candidates Republican - Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

A former businessman and governor, Mitt Romney's 2012 White House bid is his second attempt to win the Oval Office. During the 2008 election cycle, Romney lost the Republican nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain. But after that loss, Romney maintained an active national political organization. In June 2011, he formally launched his 2012 campaign.

Romney, who is Mormon, graduated from Brigham Young University in 1971 and then earned dual degrees from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He helped found Bain Capital, an investment firm that bought and sold companies after turning them around. Romney also helped organize and run the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Romney is wealthy, with assets for him and his wife, Ann, worth an estimated $190 million to $250 million, according to 2011 documents released by his campaign. A separate financial disclosure form filed with the Federal Election Commission around the same time stated that Romney's assets could be worth as much as $264 million.

The Romneys, who married in 1969, have five sons and 16 grandchildren. Politics runs in Romney's family; his father, George, was governor of Michigan.