Republican presidential candidate: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is the Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election.

Mitt Romney hails from a prominent political family — his father, George, was an automotive executive, the 43rd governor of Michigan, Republican candidate for president, and a cabinet member under Richard Nixon. Romney began his college studies at Stanford University, but left to embark on a Mormon mission to France. When he returned, he completed his degree at Brigham Young University and later earned a joint M.B.A/J.D. from Harvard University. At Bain & Company, where he was given the opportunity to head a spin-off private equity firm, Bain Capital. According to a June 2012 financial report from the Romney campaign, his net worth is somewhere between $190 million and $250 million. In 1994, Romney made an unsuccessful bid for Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat. Five years later, Romney was brought on as the president of the organizing committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, an appointment designed to bring the beleaguered games back under budget.