Mitt Romney: a profile

• His first name is Willard, Mitt being his middle name.
• A Mormon, he spent six years as a young man as a missionary for the church, including a two year stint in France. During his campaign he was forced to defend his faith on a number of occasions and at one point made a JFK-style speech addressing how his religion would affect his stance as president.
• He was governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, standing down shortly before he announced his presidential bid.
• He was President of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, after which he wrote the book Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games.
• As founder and CEO of Bain Capital (a post he left in 2001) he amassed a huge personal fortune, estimated at between $250 million and $500 million, which he has drawn on to fund his presidential campaign.
• He attended the Mormon Church's Brigham Young University and later gained an MBA from Harvard University.
• His father is George Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts. Mitt Romney got into trouble during his campaign when he claimed he had seen his father march with Martin Luther King - he later admitted he was speaking figuratively.
• He married Ann Davies, his high school sweetheart, in 1969 and has 5 sons, who write a blog on his presidential campaign website called Five brothers: a "blog". He also has 11 grandchildren.
• He was the subject of Hugh Hewitt's 2007 book: A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney.
• During his campaign he won nominating contests in Alaska, Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Maine, Nevada and Wyoming.
• After Super Tuesday he had a total of 133 delegates, putting him in third place behind Mike Huckabee on 156 and John McCain on 689.
• According to Federal Election Commission, by the end of 2007 Romney had spent $37.5 million of his own money on his campaign. $18 million of that was spent in December, twice as much as contributions from outside sources that same month. He is thought to have spent considerably more this year.
• He was the top Republican fundraiser having amassed some $90 million last year. However by the end of 2007 he had spent all but £2.5 million of it.
• Personal animosity and political differences between him and John McCain, the presumptive nominee, meant there was no chance of the vice-presidential spot on the Republican ticket.