company name	BuzzFeed
company logo
company type	Private
genre	News and Entertainment
foundation	October, 2006
founders	Jonah Peretti
location city	New York City, New York
location country	USA
key people	Jonah Peretti, CEO Peggy Wang, Senior EditorZe Frank, Advisor, Jason Kottke, Advisor
owner	BuzzFeed Inc.
company slogan	"The Viral Web In Real Time"
url	BuzzFeed.com
website type	News & blogging
language	English
advertising	partner websites
registration	Optional
launch date	October, 2006
current status	Active
screenshot	}}

BuzzFeed is a website that combines a technology platform for detecting viral content with an editorial selection process to provide a snapshot of "the viral web in realtime." Cofounded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti (who is also cofounder of The Huffington Post), BuzzFeed is located in Manhattan, New York in the Flatiron District.

In 2012, Ben Smith of Politico was hired as editor-in-chief.

Homepage content

The BuzzFeed homepage consists of a time-sequential list of posts from users and staff members. The content of the posts is usually either a video, image, or link. These posts are the site's attempt to capture the essence of viral media currently resonating on the web. On Fridays, the website hosts a battle, where users are challenged to post the best, most time-wasting Flash game. Other posts are compendiums of memes or images that are all similar to each other in some way. Occasionally there are quizzes, but these posts are infrequent.

User profiles

Every registered user of BuzzFeed has a homepage that contains links to their most recent contributions to the site. There is also a brief bio section and a scoreboard of how many times these users posts have been featured on the homepage or awarded "Gold Stars" by the staff.

BuzzFeed labs

BuzzFeed Labs are an ongoing effort on the part of the BuzzFeed editors to track, test, and to sometimes create viral media. Past efforts have included: attempting to break a beer bottle in half for use as a shiv in a bar fight, citizen journalism investigating a fire on the Manhattan Bridge, and the creation of a giant energy malt liquor drink using a forty ounce beer and a can of Red Bull. These labs are conducted sporadically and have no set release schedule.

Badges

A key component of Buzzfeed's ongoing mission to sort, certify, and promote the viral web is the use of "Badges". Tags like "LOL" "Eww" "Old" "WTF" "TRASHY" "GEEKY" "CUTE" are available for users to award to posts that they feel merit them. If enough users feel the same way, then a visual badge is tacked-onto the edge of the thumbnail image for that post, alerting others to its content.

References

Jenna Wortham. "Staying Informed Without Drowning in Data", ''New York Times'', December 17, 2008

Jenna Wortham. "Has Google Found a Stairway to Heaven in Brooklyn?", Bits Blog, ''New York Times'', August 4, 2009

External links

Buzzfeed.com

Category:Internet culture Category:Social networking services Category:Virtual communities Category:Companies based in New York City

Name	Charlie Sheen
Birth name	Carlos Irwin Estevez
Birth date	September 03, 1965
Birth place	New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Donna Peele (1995–1996)Denise Richards (2002–2006)Brooke Mueller (2008–2011)
Parents	Martin Sheen Janet Templeton
Relatives	Emilio Estevez Ramon Estevez Renée Estevez
Children	5
Website	}}

Carlos Irwin Estevez (born September 3, 1965), better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen.

His character roles in films have included Chris Taylor in the 1986 Vietnam War drama ''Platoon'', Jake Kesey in the 1986 film ''The Wraith,'' and Bud Fox in the 1987 film ''Wall Street''. His career has also included more comedic films such as ''Major League'', the ''Hot Shots!'' films, and ''Scary Movie 3'' and ''Scary Movie 4''. On television, Sheen is known for his roles on two sitcoms: as Charlie Crawford on ''Spin City'' and as Charlie Harper on ''Two and a Half Men''. In 2010, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television, earning US$1.8 million per episode of ''Two and a Half Men''.

Early life

Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estevez in New York City, the youngest son and third of four children of actor Martin Sheen and artist Janet Templeton. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Galicia (northwestern Spain) and Ireland. Sheen has two older brothers, Emilio Estevez and Ramon Estevez, and a younger sister, Renée Estevez, all actors. His parents moved to Malibu, California, after Martin's Broadway turn in ''The Subject Was Roses''. Sheen's first movie appearance was at age nine in his father’s 1974 film ''The Execution of Private Slovik''. Sheen attended Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California, where he was a star pitcher and shortstop for the baseball team.

At Santa Monica High School, he showed an early interest in acting, making amateur Super 8 films with his brother Emilio and school friends Rob Lowe and Sean Penn under his birth name. A few weeks before graduation, Sheen was expelled from school for poor grades and attendance. Deciding to become an actor, he took the stage name Charlie Sheen. His father had adopted it in honor of the Catholic archbishop and theologian Fulton J. Sheen.

Acting career

Film

Sheen's film career began in 1984 with a role in the Cold War teen drama ''Red Dawn'' with Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, and Jennifer Grey. Sheen and Grey reunited in a small scene in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986). He also appeared in an episode of the anthology series ''Amazing Stories''. Sheen had his first major role in the Vietnam War drama ''Platoon'' (1986). In 1987, he starred with his father in ''Wall Street''. Both ''Wall Street'' and ''Platoon'' were directed by Oliver Stone. In 1988, Stone asked Sheen to star in his new film ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), but later cast Tom Cruise instead. Sheen was never notified by Stone, and only found out when he heard the news from his brother Emilio. Sheen did not take a lead role in Stone's subsequent films, although he did have a cameo role in ''Money Never Sleeps''.

In 1987, Sheen was cast to portray Ron in the unreleased ''Grizzly II: The Predator'', the sequel to the 1976 low budget horror movie ''Grizzly''. In 1988, he starred in the baseball film ''Eight Men Out'' as outfielder Happy Felsch. Also in 1988, he appeared opposite his brother Emilio in ''Young Guns'' and again in 1990 in ''Men at Work''. In 1989, Sheen, John Fusco, Christopher Cain, Lou Diamond Phillips, Emilio Estévez and Kiefer Sutherland were honored with a Bronze Wrangler for their work on the film ''Young Guns''.

In 1990, he starred alongside his father in ''Cadence'' as a rebellious inmate in a military stockade and with Clint Eastwood in the buddy cop action film ''The Rookie''. The films were directed by Martin Sheen and Eastwood, respectively. In 1992, he starred in ''Beyond the Law'' with Linda Fiorentino and Michael Madsen. In 1994, Sheen was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1997, Sheen wrote his first movie, ''Discovery Mars'', a direct-to-video documentary revolving around the question, "Is There Life on Mars?". The next year, Sheen wrote, produced and starred in the action movie ''No Code of Conduct''.

Sheen appeared in several comedy roles, including the ''Major League'' films, ''Money Talks'', and the spoof ''Hot Shots!'' films. In 1999, Sheen appeared in a pilot for A&E; Network, called ''Sugar Hill'', which was not picked up. In 1999, Sheen played himself in ''Being John Malkovich''. He also appeared in the spoof series ''Scary Movie 3'' and follow up ''Scary Movie 4''.

Sheen appears as Dex Dogtective in the unreleased Lionsgate animated comedy ''Foodfight''.

Television

In 2000, Sheen debuted on the small screen when he replaced Michael J. Fox for the last two seasons of the sitcom ''Spin City''. For his work on ''Spin City'', Sheen was nominated for two ALMA Awards and won his first Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. The series ended in 2002.

In 2003, Sheen was cast as Charlie Harper in the CBS sitcom ''Two and a Half Men'', which followed the popular Monday night time slot of ''Everybody Loves Raymond''. Sheen's role on ''Two and a Half Men'' was loosely based on Sheen's bad boy image. The role garnered him an ALMA Award and he gained three Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe award nominations. During his eighth and final season on the show, Sheen earned a record $1.8 million per episode.

Warner Bros. dismissal

In January 2011, production of ''Two and a Half Men'' went on hiatus while Sheen underwent a substance rehabilitation program in his home, his third attempt at rehab in twelve months. The following month, however, CBS canceled the season's four remaining episodes after Sheen publicly made derogatory comments about the series' creator, Chuck Lorre, and Warner Bros. officially banned Sheen from entering its production lot. Sheen, already the highest-paid actor on television, claiming that in comparison to the amount that the series was making, he was "underpaid."

CBS and Warner Bros. fired Sheen from ''Two and a Half Men'' on March 7, 2011. He was replaced by Ashton Kutcher. In the aftermath of his dismissal, Sheen remained vocally critical of Chuck Lorre, and filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Lorre and Warner Bros., which was settled the following September 26. That same month, Sheen, while presenting an award at the Primetime Emmy Awards, addressed "everybody here from ''Two and a Half Men''" and stated, "From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best for this upcoming season. We spent eight wonderful years together and I know you will continue to make great television."

Meltdown

In the wake of the dismissal, Sheen had a highly publicized "meltdown" which was broadcast on television and the internet. He made bizarre statements in television interviews, suggesting that he was a "warlock" with "tiger blood" and "Adonis DNA". He also posted videos to YouTube showing himself smoking cigarettes through his nose, and cursing out his former employers. He told one TV interviewer, "‘I’m tired of pretending I’m not special. I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars."

Other

On September 19, 2011, Sheen was roasted on Comedy Central. It was watched by 6.4 million people, making it the highest rated roast on Comedy Central to date.

Other ventures

In 2006, Sheen launched a clothing line for kids, called Sheen Kidz.

In 2011, Sheen set a new Guinness World Record for Twitter as the "Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers" (adding an average of 129,000 new followers per day) as well as the Guinness record for "Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode – Current" at $1.25 million while he was a part of the cast of ''Two and a Half Men'' sitcom. On March 3, 2011, Charlie Sheen signed with Ad.ly marketing agency specializing in Twitter and Facebook promotions.

On March 10, 2011, Sheen announced a nationwide tour, "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option", which began in Detroit on April 2. The tour sold out in 18 minutes, a Ticketmaster record. However, on April 1, 2011 the Detroit Free Press featured an article that stated as of March 30 that there were over 1000 tickets available from a third-party reseller, some at 15% less than the cheapest seats sold at the Fox Theater. ''The Huffington Post'' reported that it was expected Sheen would earn $1 million in 2011 from Twitter endorsements and $7 million from the North American tour. Many of those attending the April 2 performance in Detroit found it disappointing; the subsequent performance in Chicago, which featured some adjustments, received a more positive reception.

Sheen has taken up a new business venture as a partner in a line of electronic cigarettes. The "NicoSheen" product will feature the actor's signature smirk on packages of disposable E-cigarettes and related products.

On August 13, 2011, Sheen appeared as a host at the 12th annual Gathering of the Juggalos. He received a mixed reaction from the audience. Some cheered him, and some booed and threw things at him.

Personal life

Family and relationships

Sheen has been married three times and has five children. His first daughter, Cassandra Jade Estevez, was born on December 12, 1984, to his former high school girlfriend, Paula Profit.

In January 1990, Sheen accidentally shot his fiancee, Kelly Preston, in the arm. She broke off the engagement soon after.

In the 1990s, Sheen dated a number of adult film actresses, including Ginger Lynn and Heather Hunter.

On September 3, 1995, Sheen married Donna Peele. That same year, Sheen was named as one of the clients of an escort agency operated by Heidi Fleiss. Sheen and Peele divorced in 1996.

On June 15, 2002, Sheen married actress Denise Richards. They have two daughters, Sam and Lola Sheen. In March 2005, Richards filed for divorce, accusing Sheen of alcohol and drug abuse and threats of violence. The divorce was finalized in November 2006 and preceded a custody dispute over their two daughters.

On May 30, 2008, Sheen married Brooke Mueller, who later gave birth to their twin sons, Bob and Max. In November 2010, Sheen filed for divorce. On March 1, 2011, police removed Bob and Max from Sheen's home. Sheen told NBC's ''Today'', "I stayed very calm and focused." According to ''People'', social services took the children after Mueller obtained a restraining order against Sheen. The document said, "I am very concerned that [Sheen] is currently insane." Asked if he would fight for the children, Sheen texted ''People'', "Born ready. Winning." Sheen and Mueller's divorce became final on May 2, 2011.

On March 1, 2011, Sheen was concurrently living with pornographic actress Rachel Oberlin and model and graphic designer Natalie Kenly, whom he collectively nicknamed his "goddesses". Oberlin left Sheen in April 2011, and Kenly left in June 2011.

Substance abuse and legal issues

On May 20, 1998, Sheen overdosed while using cocaine and was hospitalized. On August 11, 1998, Sheen, already on probation for a previous drug offense, had his probation extended for an extra year and entered a rehab clinic. In a 2004 interview, Sheen admitted that the overdose was caused by his experimentation with injecting cocaine.

On December 25, 2009, Sheen was arrested for assaulting his wife, Brooke Mueller. He was released the same day from jail after posting an $8,500 bond. Sheen was charged with felony menacing, as well as third-degree assault and criminal mischief. On August 2, 2010, Sheen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault as part of a plea bargain that included dismissal of the other charges against him. Sheen was sentenced to 30 days in a drug rehab center, 30 days of probation, and 36 hours of anger management.

On October 26, 2010, the police removed Sheen from his suite at the Plaza Hotel after he reportedly caused $7,000 in damage. According to the NYPD, Sheen admitted to drinking and using cocaine the night of the incident. He was released after entering a hospital for observation.

Political views and activities

Charitable activities

Sheen was the 2004 spokesperson for the Lee National Denim Day breast cancer fundraiser that raised millions of dollars for research and education regarding the disease. Sheen stated that a friend of his died from breast cancer, and he wanted to try to help find a cure for the disease.

A major donor and supporter of Aid For AIDS since 2006, Sheen was honored with an AFA Angel Award, one of only a few ever given, at the nonprofit's 25th Silver Anniversary Reception in 2009. In addition to his financial support, he has volunteered to act as a celebrity judge for several years for their annual fundraiser, Best In Drag Show, which raises around a quarter of a million dollars each year in Los Angeles for AIDS assistance. He has brought other celebrities to support the event, including his father, actor Martin Sheen. Sheen's interest in AIDS was first reported in 1987 with his support of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who became a national spokesperson for AIDS awareness after being infected with AIDS through a blood transfusion for his hemophilia.

On March 27, 2008, Sheen and Jenna Elfman co-hosted a New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project charity event.

Sheen is donating one dollar from each ticket sold from his “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option Show” 2011 tour to the Red Cross Japanese Earthquake Relief Fund.

In 2011, Sheen took on a Twitter challenge by a grieving mother to help critically ill babies born with Congenital diaphragmatic hernia by supporting CHERUBS – The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support.

September 11 attacks

On March 20, 2006, Sheen stated that he questions the U.S. Government's account of the September 11 attacks. He said during the interview that the collapse of the World Trade Center towers looked like a controlled demolition.

Sheen has since become a prominent advocate of the 9/11 Truth movement. On September 8, 2009, he appealed to President Barack Obama to set up a new investigation into the attacks. Presenting his views as a transcript of a fictional encounter with Obama, he was characterized by the press as believing the 9/11 Commission was a whitewash and that the administration of former President George W. Bush may have been responsible for the attacks.

Filmography

Films

''Money Talks'' ''Postmortem (1998 film) ''Lisa Picard is Famous'' ''Rated X (film) ''Good Advice'' ''The Making of Bret Michaels'' ''Scary Movie 3'' ''The Big Bounce (2004 film) ''Guilty Hearts'' ''Scary Movie 4'' ''Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps''

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Film	Role	Notes
1974	''The Execution of Private Slovik''	Kid at Wedding
1979	''Apocalypse Now''	Extra
	''Red Dawn''	Matt Eckert
''Silence of the Heart''	Ken Cruze
	''The Fourth Wise Man''	Captain (Herod's Soldiers)	TV-movie
	Man Shaving	CBS TV-movie
	Bo Richards
		Cappie
''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''	Garth Volbeck-Boy in Police Station
	Private Chris Taylor
''The Wraith ''	Jake Kesey
	Hamburger Restaurant Manager	Cameo
		Bud Fox
	Ted Varrick
''Three for the Road''	Paul
	Ron	Unreleasedfilmed in 1983
	''Never on Tuesday''	Thief	Uncredited Cameo
''Eight Men Out''
''Young Guns''		Bronze Wrangler Award
	''Tale of Two Sisters''	Narrator	Also writer (poems)
''Catchfire''	Bob	Cameo
		Pfc. Franklin Fairchild Bean
''Courage Mountain''	Peter
	Carl Taylor
	Lt. (j.g.) Dale Hawkins
	David Ackerman
1991	''Hot Shots!''	Lt. Sean Topper Harley
		William Patrick Steaner/Daniel "Dan" Saxon/Sid
''Oliver Stone: Inside Out''	Himself	Documentary
	''National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1''	Gern, Parking Valet
	Morgan "Fats" Gripp
''Hot Shots! Part Deux''	Lt. Sean Topper Harley
	Aramis
	''Charlie Sheen's Stunt Spectacular''	Himself	TV-movie
	Richard 'Ditch' Brodie
	Jackson Davis "Jack" Hammond	Also executive producer
''Major League II''	Ricky 'Wild Thing' Vaughn
		Barbie Loving Bartender	Cameo appearance
''Frame by Frame''
''All Dogs Go to Heaven 2''	Charles B. "Charlie" Barkin	Voice only
	Zane Zaminsky
rowspan="3"	1997	|	James Russell
''Shadow Conspiracy''	Bobby Bishop
''Bad Day on the Block''
rowspan="5"	1998	Postmortem'' ||	James McGregor
''A Letter from Death Row (film)	A Letter from Death Row''
''No Code of Conduct''	Jacob "Jake" Peterson
''Free Money (film)	Free Money''	Bud Dyerson
''Junket Whore''	Himself
rowspan="3"	1999	|	Himself
''Five Aces''	Chris Martin
''Being John Malkovich''	Himself
2000	Rated X'' ||	Artie Mitchell>Artie Jay "Art" Mitchell	Showtime (TV network)>Showtime TV-movie
rowspan="2"	2001	|	Ryan Edward Turner
''Last Party 2000''	Himself
2002	|	Himself	Documentary
2003	|	Tom Logan (character)>Tom Logan
rowspan="2"	2004	The Big Bounce'' ||	Bob Rogers Jr.
''Pauly Shore Is Dead''	Himself
2005	|	Charlie Sheen	Segment "Spelling Bee"
2006	|	Tom Logan (character)>Tom Logan	Uncredited Cameo
rowspan="2"	2010	|	Bud Fox	Uncredited Cameo
''Due Date''	Charlie Harper (Two and a Half Men)>Charlie Harper

Short films

''Comicits'' ''Deeper Than Deep'' ''Spelling Bee''

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	''A Life in the Day''
1989	|	Himself	Also producer
2003	|	Chuck Traynor>Charles "Chuck" E. Traynor
2004	|	Himself	From ''Guilty Hearts''

Television

''Friends'' ''Sugar Hill (TV pilot) ''Spin City'' ''Two and a Half Men'' ''Overhaulin''' ''The Big Bang Theory'' ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' ''Lopez Tonight'' ''Family Guy'' ''Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza'' ''Comedy Central Roast'' ''Anger Management (TV series)

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Amazing Stories (TV series)>Amazing Stories: Book Three''
1996	|	Ryan	Friends (season 2)#ep47>"The One with the Chicken Pox"
1999	Sugar Hill'' ||	Matt	Unsold pilot
2000–2002	|	Charlie Crawford	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2002) Nominated – ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series (2001) Nominated – ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series (2002)
2003–2011	|	Charlie Harper (Two and a Half Men)>Charlie Harper	ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Television Series (2008) Nominated – Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Television Actor (2002) Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2005) Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2005) Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (2006) Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Comedy (2008) Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (2008) Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2009)
2006	|	Himself	Episode: "LeMama's Boy"
2008	|	Himself	List of The Big Bang Theory episodes>"The Griffin Equivalency", cameo appearance
2009	|	Himself
2009	|	Himself
2010	|	Himself	Episode: "Brian Griffin's House of Payne"
2011	|	Himself	Episode 2 (in improv game "Fairy Tale")
2011	|	Himself (Roastee)
2012	Anger Management'' ||	Charlie

References

External links

Charlie Sheen: Life and Times – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from New York City Category:American activists Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American people convicted of assault Category:American people of Galician descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:California Democrats Category:Estevez family Category:People from Santa Monica, California Category:People from Staten Island

ar:تشارلي شين az:Çarli Şin be-x-old:Чарлі Шын bg:Чарли Шийн ca:Charlie Sheen cs:Charlie Sheen co:Charlie Sheen cy:Charlie Sheen da:Charlie Sheen de:Charlie Sheen et:Charlie Sheen es:Charlie Sheen eu:Charlie Sheen fa:چارلی شین fr:Charlie Sheen ga:Charlie Sheen gl:Charlie Sheen hi:चार्ली शीन hr:Charlie Sheen id:Charlie Sheen it:Charlie Sheen he:צ'ארלי שין kn:ಚಾರ್ಲಿ ಶೀನ್ la:Carolus Sheen lv:Čārlijs Šīns hu:Charlie Sheen mk:Чарли Шин nl:Charlie Sheen ja:チャーリー・シーン no:Charlie Sheen nds:Charlie Sheen pl:Charlie Sheen pt:Charlie Sheen ro:Charlie Sheen ru:Чарли Шин simple:Charlie Sheen sk:Charlie Sheen sr:Чарли Шин sh:Charlie Sheen fi:Charlie Sheen sv:Charlie Sheen tl:Charlie Sheen te:చార్లీ షీన్ th:ชาร์ลี ชีน tr:Charlie Sheen uk:Чарлі Шин zh:查理·辛

Birthname	James Richard Perry
Order	47th
Office	Governor of Texas
Lieutenant	Bill RatliffDavid Dewhurst
Term start	December 21, 2000
Predecessor	George W. Bush
Order2	39th
Office2	Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Term start2	January 19, 1999
Term end2	December 21, 2000
Governor2	George W. Bush
Predecessor2	Bob Bullock
Successor2	Bill Ratliff
Office3	9th Commissioner of Agriculture of Texas
Governor3	Ann RichardsGeorge W. Bush
Term start3	January 15, 1991
Term end3	January 19, 1999
Predecessor3	Jim Hightower
Successor3	Susan Combs
Office4	Member of the House of Representatives of Texasfrom District 64
Term start4	1985
Term end4	1991
Predecessor4	Joe Hanna
Successor4	John Cook
Birth date	March 04, 1950
Birth place	Paint Creek, Texas
Residence	West Austin, Texas(Temporary residence since 2007, during repairs to the Texas Governor's Mansion)
Spouse	Anita Thigpen
Children	GriffinSydney
Alma mater	Texas A&M; University (B.S.)
Party	Republican Party (since 1989)Democratic Party (until 1989)
Profession	Military OfficerFarmerPolitician
Religion	Christianity (evangelical)
Signature	Rick Perry signature.svg
Branch	United States Air Force
Serviceyears	1972–1977
Unit	772nd Tactical Airlift Squadron
Rank	Captain
Website	www.governor.state.tx.us }}

James Richard "Rick" Perry (born March 4, 1950) is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. Perry, a Republican, was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full gubernatorial terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010. With a tenure in office to date of , Perry is the longest continuously serving current U.S. governor, and the second longest serving current U.S. governor—after Terry Branstad of Iowa. Perry served as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008 (succeeding Sonny Perdue of Georgia) and again in 2011. Perry is the longest serving governor in Texas state history. As a result, he is the only governor in modern Texas history to have appointed at least one person to every eligible state office, board, or commission position (as well as to several elected offices to which the governor can appoint someone to fill an unexpired term, such as six of the nine current members of the Texas Supreme Court).

Perry won the Texas 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary election, defeating U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Wharton County Republican Party Chairwoman and businesswoman Debra Medina. In the 2010 Texas gubernatorial election, Perry won a third term by defeating former Houston mayor Bill White and Kathie Glass.

On August 13, 2011, Perry announced in South Carolina that he was running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. On January 19, 2012, Perry announced he would be suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination, and endorsed Newt Gingrich.

Early life, education, and military service

A fifth-generation Texan, Perry was born in Paint Creek, about north of Abilene in West Texas, to ranchers Joseph Ray Perry and the former Amelia June Holt. Perry's ancestry is almost entirely English, dating as far back as the original thirteen colonies. His family has been in Texas since before the Texan Revolution.

His father, a Democrat, was a long-time Haskell County commissioner and school board member. Perry has said that his interest in politics probably began in November 1961, when his father took him to the funeral of U.S. Representative Sam Rayburn (D-TX), who during his long public career served as speaker of the Texas House for a short time at the age of 29 and then later for 17 years as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Perry was in the Boy Scouts (BSA) and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; his son, Griffin, would later become an Eagle Scout as well. The BSA has honored Perry with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

Perry graduated from Paint Creek High School in 1968. He then attended Texas A&M; University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, was elected senior class social secretary, and was also elected as one of A&M;'s five yell leaders (a popular Texas A&M; tradition analogous to male cheerleaders). Perry graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in animal science.

Perry said that the Corps of Cadets gave him the discipline to complete his animal sciences degree and earn a commission in the Air Force. In a 1989 interview he said that "I was probably a bit of a free spirit, not particularly structured real well for life outside of a military regime, I would have not lasted at Texas Tech or the University of Texas. I would have hit the fraternity scene and lasted about one semester." Perry was a prankster in college: he once placed live chickens in the closet of an upperclassman during Christmas break and used M-80 firecrackers to prank students using the toilet.

In the early 1970s, Perry interned during several summers with the Southwestern Company, as a door-to-door book salesman. "I count my time working for Dortch Oldham [President of the Southwestern Company] as one of the most important formative experiences of my life," Perry said in 2010. "There is nothing that tests your commitment to a goal like getting a few doors closed in your face." He said that "Mr. Oldham taught legions of young people to communicate quickly, clearly and with passion, a lesson that has served me well in my life since then."

Upon graduation in 1972, Perry was commissioned in the Air Force and completed pilot training in February 1974. He was then assigned as a C-130 pilot to the 772nd Tactical Airlift Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base. Perry's duties included two-month overseas rotations at RAF Mildenhall in England and Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany. His missions included a 1974 U.S. State Department drought relief effort in Mali, Mauritania and Chad, and two years later, earthquake relief in Guatemala. He left the Air Force in 1977 with the rank of captain, returned to Texas, and went into business farming cotton with his father.

Early political career

Texas Legislature

In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from district 64, which included his home county of Haskell. He served on the House Appropriations and Calendars committees during his three two-year terms in office. He befriended fellow freshman state representative Lena Guerrero of Austin, a staunch liberal Democrat who endorsed Perry's reelection bid in 2006 on personal, rather than philosophical, grounds.

Perry was part of the "Pit Bulls", a group of Appropriations members who sat on the lower dais in the committee room (or "pit") who pushed for austere state budgets during the 1980s. At one point, ''The Dallas Morning News'' named him one of the ten most effective members of the legislature.

In 1987, Perry voted for a $5.7 billion tax increase proposed by Republican governor Bill Clements. Perry supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries and worked in an unspecified capacity for Gore's campaign in Texas. In 1989, Perry announced that he was switching parties, becoming a Republican.

Agriculture Commissioner

In 1990, as a newly minted Republican, Perry challenged Jim Hightower, the incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner. Hightower had worked on behalf of Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, while Perry had supported U.S. Senator Al Gore of Tennessee.

During 1990, Hightower's office was embroiled in a FBI investigation into corruption and bribery. Three aides were convicted in 1993 of using public funds for political fundraising, although Hightower himself was not found to be involved in the wrongdoings. Perry narrowly defeated Hightower in November 1990.

As Agriculture Commissioner, Perry was responsible for promoting the sale of Texas farm produce to other states and foreign nations, and for supervising the calibration of weights and measures, such as gasoline pumps and grocery store scales.

In April 1993, Perry, while serving as Texas agriculture commissioner, expressed support for the effort to reform the nation's health care, describing it as "most commendable". The health care plan, first revealed in September, was ultimately unsuccessful due to Republican congressional opposition. In 2005, after being questioned on the issue by a potential opponent in the Republican governor primary, Perry said that he expressed his support only in order to get Clinton to pay more attention to rural health care.

In 1994, Perry was reelected Agriculture Commissioner by a large margin, getting 2,546,287 votes (62 percent) to Democrat Marvin Gregory's 1,479,692 (36 percent). Libertarian Clyde L. Garland received the remaining 85,836 votes (2 percent). Gregory, a chicken farmer from Sulphur Springs, Texas, was on the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority with Perry in the early nineties, as a Republican. He became a Democrat before running against Perry in 1994.

Lieutenant Governor

In 1998, Perry chose not to seek a third term as Agriculture Commissioner, running instead for Lieutenant Governor to succeed the retiring Democrat Bob Bullock. During this election, Rick Perry had a notable falling out with his previous top political strategist Karl Rove, which began the much-reported rivalry between the Bush and Perry camps. Perry polled 1,858,837 votes (50.04 percent) to the 1,790,106 (48.19 percent) cast for Democrat John Sharp of Victoria, who had relinquished the Comptroller's position after two terms to seek the lieutenant governorship. Libertarian Anthony Garcia polled another 65,150 votes (1.75 percent). Perry thus became the state's first Republican lieutenant governor since Reconstruction, taking office on January 19, 1999.

Governor of Texas

thumb|President George W. Bush and Texas Governor Rick Perry shake hands after a question and answer session at the Port Arthur airport. Port Arthur was hit hard by Hurricane Rita.Perry assumed the office of governor on December 21, 2000, following the resignation of George W. Bush—who was preparing to become President of the United States. He won the office in his own right in the 2002 gubernatorial election, where he received 57.80% of votes to businessman Tony Sanchez's 39.96%. He was re-elected in the 2006 gubernatorial election against three major opponents, polling 39% of votes against runner-up Chris Bell with 29.8%. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Perry became the first Texas governor to be elected to three four-year terms, polling 54.97% of votes to Bill White's 42.48%.

In his three gubernatorial campaigns, Perry received hard-money campaign contributions of $102 million, half of which came from 204 donors.

In the 2001 legislative session, Perry set a record for his use of the veto, rejecting 82 acts, more than any other governor in any single legislative session in the history of the state since Reconstruction.

Fiscal policies

In his presidential campaign, Perry has highlighted the economic success Texas achieved under his governorship, although the true success of his policies has been questioned. A proclaimed proponent of fiscal conservatism, Perry has often campaigned on job growth and tax issues, such as his opposition to creating a state income tax. Perry refused in 2002 to promise not to raise taxes as governor, and in the following years did propose or approve various tax and debt increases. In 2009, Perry signed Grover Norquist's pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes".

Texas began borrowing money in 2003 to pay for roads and will owe $17.3 billion by the end of 2012, increasing total state debt, from $13.4 billion in 2001 to $37.8 billion in 2011. The state's public finance authority sold $2 billion in bonds for unemployment benefits, and it's authorized to sell $1.5 billion more if necessary. Texas federal borrowing topped $1.6 billion in October 2010, before the bond sales. Texans voted November 8, 2011 for a Water Works Bill with an additional $6 billion of debt and against new tax breaks for landowners. A Republican on the Natural Resources Committee laments “we couldn’t get the votes” which would break Perry's pledge not to raise taxes.

In 2003, Perry signed legislation that created the Texas Enterprise Fund, which has since given $435 million in grants to businesses. The New York Times reported that many of the companies receiving grants, or their chief executives, have made contributions to Perry's campaigns or to the Republican Governors Association.

Health

As Governor, Perry has been an outspoken opponent of federal health-care reform proposals and of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, describing the latter as "socialism on American soil". Perry's focus in Texas has been on tort reform, signing a bill in 2003 which restricted non-economic damages in medical malpractice judgments. Perry touted this approach in his Presidential campaign, although independent analysts have concluded that it has failed to increase the supply of physicians or limit health-care costs in Texas.

During Perry's governorship, Texas rose from second to first among states with the highest proportion of uninsured residents at 26%, and had the lowest level of access to prenatal care in the U.S. Perry and the Republican-led state legislature have cut Medicaid spending and made it more difficult to enroll in the program, which currently covers one-third of Texas children. The cost of caring for uninsured Texans has been borne by those with insurance, leading to substantial rises in insurance premiums and leading Texas to rank next-to-last among states in terms of affordability of health insurance. The ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote that under Perry, "working Texans increasingly have been priced out of private healthcare while the state's safety net has withered."

Perry's office has argued that Texas represents a model private-sector approach to health-care. His spokeswoman stated that "Texas does provide an adequate safety net to those truly in need... and many individuals simply choose not to purchase healthcare coverage."

Perry is pro-life and has signed multiple bills creating new rules or restrictions for abortion procedures and funding for such. These bills include a May 2010 law requiring that a sonogram be performed prior to every abortion, and that the practitioner discuss the sonogram images with the patient except in limited cases where the patient may waive the explanation. In December 2011, Perry said he had undergone a "transformation" and now opposed all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. The next day he clarified that he would allow an exception for abortions that would save a mother's life.

In February 2007, Perry issued an executive order mandating that Texas girls receive the HPV vaccine, which protects against some strains of the human papilloma virus, a contributing factor to some forms of cervical cancer. Following the move, news outlets reported various apparent financial connections between Perry and the vaccine's manufacturer, Merck. Merck's political action committee has contributed $28,500 since 2001 to Perry's campaigns. The order was criticized by some parents and social conservatives, and a lawsuit was filed later that month. In May 2007, the Texas Legislature passed a bill undoing the order; Perry did not veto the bill, saying the veto would have been overruled, but blamed lawmakers who supported the bill for the deaths of future cancer victims.

In 2011, Governor Perry both had adult stem cell surgery himself, in Houston by Dr. Jones, and started "laying the groundwork" for the commercialization of the adult stem cell industry in Texas.

Religion

Perry grew up in the Methodist church, until 2010 when he began attending Lake Hills Church in Austin. In 2006, Perry stated that he believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and that those who do not accept Jesus as their savior will go to hell. He later clarified, "I don't know that there's any human being that has the ability to interpret what God and his final decision-making is going to be." In his 2008 book ''On My Honor'', Perry expressed his views on the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. "Let's be clear: I don't believe government, which taxes people regardless of their faith, should espouse a specific faith. I also don't think we should allow a small minority of atheists to sanitize our civil dialogue on religious references." In June 2011, Perry proclaimed August 6 as a Day of Prayer and Fasting, inviting other governors to join him in a prayer meeting hosted by the American Family Association in Houston. The event was criticized as going beyond prayer and fasting to include launching Perry's presidential campaign.

Perry has called himself "a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect", and has expressed support for its teaching alongside evolution in Texas schools, but has also said that "educators and local school officials, not the governor, should determine science curriculum."

Education

Perry has repeatedly attacked the Robin Hood plan to provide court-mandated equitable school financing for all school districts in the state. In 2005, following rejection of Perry's proposal to replace the Robin Hood plan, Perry vetoed all funding for public schools for the 2007–2008 biennium, saying he would not "approve an education budget that shortchanges teacher salary increases, textbooks, education technology, and education reforms. And I cannot let $2 billion sit in some bank account when it can go directly to the classroom." Following a second rejection of Perry's bill, Perry asked John Sharp to head a task force charged with preparing a bipartisan education plan, which was subsequently adopted.

In 2001, Perry expressed his pride in the enactment of the statute extending in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who meet Texas' residency requirements. It also required the undocumented students to pledge to apply for permanent residency or citizenship if this became a possibility for them.

LGBT issues

In 2002, Perry described the Texas same-sex anti-sodomy law as "appropriate". The United States Supreme Court's civil rights decision in ''Lawrence v. Texas'' struck down the statute Perry referred to the following year for violating the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Perry supported the 2005 ballot proposition which amended the Texas constitution by defining marriage as "only a union between a man and a woman" and prohibiting the state from creating or recognizing "any legal status identical or similar to marriage". In 2011, after New York legalized same-sex marriage, Perry stated that it was their right to do so under the principle of states' rights delineated in the 10th Amendment. A spokesman later reiterated Perry's support for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying that position was not inconsistent since an amendment would require approval by three-fourths of the states.

In his first book, ''On My Honor'', published in 2008, Perry drew a parallel between homosexuality and alcoholism, writing that he is "no expert on the 'nature versus nurture' debate", but that gays should simply choose abstinence. During the 2012 presidential campaign, he criticized the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell".

Crime

Perry's campaigns for lieutenant governor and governor focused on a tough stance on crime. He has supported block grants for crime programs.

Jeff L. Blackburn, chief counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas, said of Perry that "He has done more good than any other governor we've ever had ... unless, of course, it involves the death penalty. On the death penalty, Rick Perry has a profound mental block".

In 2007, Perry signed a law ending automatic arrest for marijuana possession.

Death penalty

Perry supports the death penalty. In June 2002, he vetoed a ban on the execution of mentally retarded inmates. As of August 10, 2011, Texas has carried out 234 executions since Rick Perry became governor. Cases in which Perry has been criticized for his lack of intervention include those of Cameron Todd Willingham, Frances Newton, and Mexican nationals José Medellín and Humberto Leal Garcia.

Perry commuted the death sentence of Kenneth Foster, who was convicted of murder despite evidence that he was only present at the scene of the crime. Perry also pardoned Tyrone Brown, who was sentenced to life in a Texas maximum security prison for smoking marijuana while on probation. Perry's actions in both these cases were following the recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Infrastructure

In 2001, Perry proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor, a $145+ billion-dollar project that would build multi-lane highways, rail lines and data lines from Oklahoma to Mexico, and from east to west in southern Texas. Instead of paying for the project with taxes, Perry proposed that it be partially financed, partially built and wholly operated by private contractors, who would subsequently receive all toll proceeds. All of Perry's gubernatorial opponents opposed the corridor project, as did the 2006 state party platforms of both the Democratic and Republican parties. After much contentious debate between supporters and opponents, an official decision of "no action" was issued by the Federal Highway Administration on July 20, 2010, formally ending the project.

Gun ownership

Perry has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. He possesses a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) and has signed a number of bills that increased CHL access.

2012 presidential campaign

Until 2011, Perry persistently denied aspirations to higher office; he was originally included on the 2012 Presidential Straw Poll ballot at the Values Voter Summit in September 2009, but his name was removed at his own request. In April 2008 while appearing as a guest on CNBC's ''Kudlow & Company'', he specifically stated that he would not agree to serve as Vice President in a McCain administration, stating that he already had "the best job in the world" as governor of Texas. Further, during a Republican gubernatorial debate in January 2010, when asked if he would commit to serving out his term if re-elected, he replied that "the place hasn't been made yet" where he would rather serve than the governor of Texas. In December 2010, when asked if he was a "definite maybe" to run for President in 2012, he replied, "a definite no, brother".

On May 27, 2011, he said he is "going to think about" running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination after the close of the Texas legislative session. Perry said in a response to a question from a reporter, "but I think about a lot of things," he added with a grin.

On August 11, a Perry spokesman said that he will be running for President in 2012, with plans to announce his formal entry into the race the next day, August 12. Perry himself confirmed it on a visit to KVUE, the ABC affiliate in Austin. As the Associated Press bulletin announcing his entry into the race came across the wire, Perry signed and dated a printed copy of the bulletin.

On August 13, Perry officially announced that he will be running for president.

In October 2011, the ''Washington Post'' reported that Perry's family leases a hunting camp once called "Niggerhead". According to some local residents interviewed by the ''Post'', the Perrys used the camp for years before painting over a large rock with that name on it, which stands at an entrance to the area, and during this time Perry hosted friends and supporters at the camp. Perry's campaign disputed the claims, stating that the Perrys painted over the rock almost immediately after acquiring a lease on the property in 1983.

On December 6, Perry released a Presidential campaign video on YouTube called "Strong" discussing his religious beliefs, as well as criticism of Obama's governance. The video states "there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but your kids can't openly celebrate Christmas." The video has been largely criticised in the on-line community and has received over 750,000 dislikes on YouTube.

Perry announced on January 19, 2012, that he would be dropping out of the 2012 Presidential Race, publicly endorsing Newt Gingrich. However on April 25, 2012, Perry endorsed Mitt Romney after Gingrich announced that he drop out a week later.

Political views

''See'': Political positions of Rick Perry

Publications

Rick Perry has written two books: ''On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For'' was published in February 2008. In his book, Perry celebrates the positive impact of the organization on the youth of America and criticizes the ACLU for its legal actions against the Boy Scouts of America. His second book, ''Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington'' was published in November 2010. Perry's second book discusses his support for limited central government.

Perry has also written a lecture about the role of the federal government and the military in disaster management titled ''Federalizing Disaster Response''.

Personal life

In 1982, Perry married Anita Thigpen, his childhood sweetheart whom he had known since elementary school. They have two grown children, Griffin and Sydney. Anita Perry attended West Texas State University and earned a degree in nursing. She has spearheaded a number of health-related initiatives such as the Anita Thigpen Perry Endowment at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, which focuses on nutrition, cardiovascular disease, health education, and early childhood development. Anita has also helped develop and host the Texas Conference for Women.

Electoral history

References

External links

Governor Rick Perry ''official state site''

Rick Perry for President ''official presidential campaign site''

Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission

Financial information at OpenSecrets.org.......

;National and international media coverage

Rick Perry category at ''CNN

Rick Perry page at ''Fox News''

Rick Perry category at ''The New York Times''

Rick Perry section at ''The Wall Street Journal''

Rick Perry index at ''The Economist

Rick Perry collection at ''The (London) Guardian

Rick Perry directory at ''The Open Directory Project''

;Local media coverage

The Perry Trap at ''The Austin Chronicle''

Perry Watch at ''The Dallas Morning News''

Rick Perry 2012 at the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram''

Rick Perry at the ''Houston Chronicle''

The Perry Trove at the ''Texas Monthly''

The Perry Trail at ''The Texas Observer''

Rick Perry at ''The Texas Tribune''

;Governor

|- |- |- |- |- |- }} |-

Category:1950 births Category:Agriculture commissioners of Texas Category:American evangelicals Category:American farmers Category:American people of English descent Category:American Methodists Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:Article Feedback 5 Additional Articles Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:Distinguished Eagle Scouts Category:Federal Emergency Management Agency critics Category:Governors of Texas Category:Lieutenant Governors of Texas Category:Living people Category:Members of the Texas House of Representatives Category:People from Haskell County, Texas Category:Republican Party state governors of the United States Category:Texas A&M; University alumni Category:Texas Republicans Category:United States Air Force officers Category:United States presidential candidates, 2012

ar:ريك بيري be:Рык Перы cs:Rick Perry cy:Rick Perry da:Rick Perry de:Rick Perry et:Rick Perry es:Rick Perry eo:Rick Perry fa:ریک پری fo:Rick Perry fr:Rick Perry gl:Rick Perry ko:릭 페리 it:Rick Perry he:ריק פרי la:Iacobus Richardus Perry lv:Riks Perijs nl:Rick Perry ja:リック・ペリー no:Rick Perry pl:Rick Perry pt:Rick Perry ru:Перри, Рик simple:Rick Perry sk:Rick Perry sh:Rick Perry fi:Rick Perry sv:Rick Perry tr:Rick Perry uk:Рік Перрі vi:Rick Perry zh:里克·佩里

Name	Katy Perry
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
Alias	Katy Hudson
Birth date	October 25, 1984
Birth place	Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Genre	Pop, rock, dance, gospel
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	2001–present
Label	Red Hill, Island, Columbia, Capitol
Associated acts	The Matrix
Website	}}

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Perry grew up with gospel music, and during her first year of high school she pursued a music career as Katy Hudson, releasing her first studio album called ''Katy Hudson'' which failed to chart. She recorded a solo album later, which was never released. After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.

She first gained recognition with the release of her first mainstream album, ''One of the Boys'' in 2008, which spawned three ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top-ten songs—"I Kissed A Girl", "Hot n Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas". Perry supported the album with her Hello Katy Tour. In 2010, her third studio album, ''Teenage Dream'' (2010), which topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and spawned five number one singles—"California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"—''Teenage Dream'' was the only album (after Michael Jackson's ''Bad'')—to do so, and the first female in history to achieve this milestone. She embarked on the California Dreams Tour, which grossed nearly $60 million worldwide. Perry re-released the album under the name of ''Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection'' on March 26, 2012, and the re-release has already spawned the number-one single "Part of Me".

Perry is the only artist to spend over 52 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and has since heightened this to 69 weeks. As of 2012, Perry has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. She was named 2011's "Artist of the Year" by MTV. She has sold 37.6 million digital tracks in the United States and 11 million albums worldwide. Perry was a guest judge on the seventh series of ''The X Factor UK'' and the ninth season of ''American Idol''. She has released fragrances "Purr" and "Meow". She ventured into film, voicing Smurfette in the 2011 film ''The Smurfs''. Perry was married to British comedian Russell Brand from 2010 to 2012.

Early life

Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California to Keith, a West Coast scenester in the 1960s, and Mary Hudson (née Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had a "tempestuous" first marriage in Zimbabwe. Perry has Portuguese, German, Irish, and English ancestry. She is the second child of two pastors. She has an older sister named Angela Hudson and younger brother named David Hudson. Perry's mother's aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry. Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry and sang in their church between the ages of 9 and 17. She grew up listening to gospel music, was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music", and attended Christian schools and camps. As a child, Perry learned how to dance in a recreation building in Santa Barbara. She was taught by seasoned dancers and began with swing, Lindy Hop, and jitterbug. She took her GED after her first year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music. Perry initially started singing "because [she] was at that point in [her] childhood where [she] was copycatting [her] sister and everything she [would do]." Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she take vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time.

Career

1999–2006: Career beginnings

When Perry was 15, her singing in church attracted the attention of rock veterans from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to polish her writing skills. In Nashville, Perry started recording demos and was taught by country music veterans how to craft songs and play guitar. Perry signed to the Christian music label Red Hill, under which she recorded her first album at the age of 15. Performing as Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel rock album in 2001. She supported this album with ''The Strangely Normal Tour'', accompanied by Phil Joel, LaRue, Luna Halo, Earthsuit and V*Enna. The album was unsuccessful as the label ceased operations at the end of 2001. She later changed her surname to Perry, her mother's maiden name, because "Katy Hudson" was too close to film actress Kate Hudson.

At the age of 17, Perry left her home for Los Angeles, where she worked with Glen Ballard on an album for Island Records. Growing up listening to mostly gospel music, Perry had few references when she began recording songs. Asked by the producer with whom she would like to collaborate, Perry had no idea. That night, she went with her mother to a hotel. Inside, she turned on VH1 and saw producer Glen Ballard talking about Alanis Morissette; Ballard produced Morissette's ''Jagged Little Pill'', which had a "huge influence" on Perry. She expressed interest in working with Ballard to her initial collaborator, who arranged a meeting for her with Ballard in Los Angeles. Perry presented one of her songs to Ballard. Ballard then helped Perry develop her songwriting over the next few years. The album was due for release in 2005, but ''Billboard'' reported it also went nowhere. Perry was dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group. Some of Perry and Ballard's collaborations included "Box", "Diamonds" and "Long Shot", were posted on her official MySpace page. "Simple", one of the songs she recorded with Ballard, was released on the soundtrack to the 2005 film ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants''. "Long Shot" and "I Do Not Hook Up" was later recorded by Kelly Clarkson for her 2009 album ''All I Ever Wanted''.

Perry signed to Columbia Records in 2004. However, the label was not amenable with her vision, not putting her in the "driver's seat". Instead, one of Columbia's ideas was to pair Perry with the record production team The Matrix, who was working on an album, to serve as its female vocalist. Although the album was later shelved, she caught the attention of the music press: Her burgeoning music career led to her being named "The Next Big Thing" in October 2004 by ''Blender'' magazine. With no album project ongoing, Perry began recording her own. Eighty percent completed, however, Columbia decided not to finish it and dropped her from the label. While waiting to find another label, she worked in an independent A&R; company called Taxi Music. In 2006, Perry was featured in the tail-end of the video to P.O.D.'s single "Goodbye for Now". She made a cameo appearance in Carbon Leaf's video, "Learn to Fly".

2007–09: Commercial success with ''One of the Boys'' and ''MTV Unplugged''

While in the process of being dropped by Columbia in 2006, the company's publicity executive Angelica Cob-Baehler enthusiastically recommended Perry to Virgin Records chairman Jason Flom. At the time Flom was leading a complete revival in fortunes at the label and looking to crown recent achievements by breaking a global pop act. Despite mixed reactions from fellow Virgin executives, Flom became convinced that Perry could be that breakthrough star, and at the start of 2007 extended discussions with Columbia resulted in Perry signing to the newly created Capitol Music Group, a merger between Virgin and Capitol. As part of the deal, the label secured the masters to the unfinished album, recorded while at Columbia, that would go on to form a significant part of her official mainstream debut album, ''One of the Boys''.

The Columbia recordings were seen by Flom as being "very strong but lacking an undeniable smash or two that would work both at U.S. pop radio and internationally" and so one of the executive's first actions after completing the signing was to set up a collaboration between Perry and the writer-producer Dr. Luke. The results were the songs "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold". Establishing her image was one of the immediate concerns of her management. A campaign was started in November 2007 with the release of the video to "Ur So Gay", aimed at introducing her to the music market. A digital EP led by "Ur So Gay" was later released to create online buzz and press story. This was a successful move that resulted in bringing Perry to the attention of Madonna, who mentioned her on KISS FM and KRQ's ''JohnJay & Rich'' morning show in Arizona. On March 10, 2008, she appeared as herself on the ABC Family television series, ''Wildfire'', on the episode "Life's Too Short".

In the next step of promoting the album, Perry undertook a two-month tour of radio stations. The album's official lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", was released on May 6, 2008. Perry's A&R;, Chris Anokute, told HitQuarters the song and its controversial theme had met with strong resistance at the label: "People said, 'This is never going to get played on the radio. How do we sell this? How’s this going to be played in the bible belt?'" Anokute said that they needed the support of one of the label's radio promoters to convince people to believe in the record; otherwise, Perry would have likely been dropped again. Capitol's SVP of Promotions, Dennis Reese, saw the vision and helped push the single on national radio. The first station to pick it up and take a chance was The River in Nashville. After playing it for three days they were innundated with enthusiastic calls. With the song climbing atop the charts, Perry embarked on the annual Warped Tour music festival, which her management used to "establish her as a credible performer and make sure she wasn't seen as just a one-hit wonder." The single was a commercial success, peaking at number one for seven weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It has since become a major worldwide hit, topping charts in 30 countries, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. On June 12, 2008, Perry appeared as herself on the daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', posing for the cover to the June 2008 issue of the fictional magazine ''Restless Style''. Perry also performed backing vocals on the song, "Another Night in the Hills" from Gavin Rossdale's 2008 solo album ''Wanderlust''.

''One of the Boys'' was released on June 17, 2008, to mixed critical reviews. The album has reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' 200, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Perry released her second single, "Hot n Cold", which became her second top three single in dozens of countries around the world, including the United States where it reached number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as well as topping the charts in Germany, Canada, and Denmark. After Perry wrapped up her appearance at the Warped Tour, she went on tours in Europe. She later launched her first headlining tour, the Hello Katy Tour, in January 2009. "I Kissed a Girl" earned Perry a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards. Perry was nominated in five categories at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Video, but lost to Britney Spears. She won Best New Act at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, which she co-hosted, and Best International Female Artist at the 2009 BRIT Awards. On February 9, 2009, both "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold" were certified three-time platinum by Recording Industry Association of America for individual digital sales of over three million. The Guinness Book of World Records recognized Perry in its 2010 version as the "Best Start on the US Digital Chart by a Female Artist," for having her first two singles sell over two million digital copies.

The Matrix's self-titled debut album, which features Perry, was later released via the team's label, Let's Hear It, during Perry's solo tour. When the release date was scheduled, "I Kissed a Girl" had been charting well. Matrix member Lauren Christy spoke to Perry about the decision, but she wanted to hold the release until the fourth single of ''One of the Boys'' had been dispatched. Despite their communication, ''The Matrix'' was released on January 27, 2009, via iTunes Store.

In December 2008, Perry apologized to British singer Lily Allen for remarks in which she called herself a "skinnier version" of her, saying she meant it as a joke. Allen retaliated and told a British radio station that she "happen[ed] to know for a fact that she [Perry] was an American version" of her because their record company needed "to find something controversial and 'kooky'" like her. In January 2009, Perry embarked on her first headlining world tour, the Hello Katy Tour, visiting North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Beginning on January 23, 2009, and ending on November 28, 2009, the tour consisted of 89 concerts. During that time, Perry also opened select concerts for the band No Doubt, on their ''Summer Tour 2009''.

On May 16, 2009, Perry performed at the opening ceremony of the annual Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. In June 2009, lawyers acting for Perry opposed the then-recent trademark of Australian fashion designer Katie Perry, who uses her own name to market loungewear. Some media outlets reported this as a lawsuit, which Perry denied on her blog. Katie Perry reported on her blog that at a hearing with IP Australia on July 10, 2009, the singer's lawyers withdrew their opposition to the trademark. During the summer of 2009 Perry filmed a cameo appearance for ''Get Him to the Greek''; her scene, in which she kisses her future fiancé Russell Brand was cut, and does not appear in the final film. Discussing the issue with MTV, Perry hypothesized there may have been some fear that seeing the two make out would have taken viewers out of the experience. In 2009, Perry was featured on two singles: in August, a remix of Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" (the idea for the collaboration having come after Perry's tour that featured 3OH!3 as the supporting act, the song being released by iTunes on September 8, 2009); and, thereafter, in December, on "If We Ever Meet Again", the fourth single from Timbaland's album ''Shock Value II''. In October 2009, ''MTV Unplugged'' revealed that Perry was one of the artists to perform for them, and that she would be releasing a live album of the performance, including two new tracks, "Brick by Brick" and Fountains of Wayne cover "Hackensack". The album, released on November 17, included both a CD and a DVD, and debuted at No. 168 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

2010–present: ''Teenage Dream'', film debut and ''The Complete Confection''

Perry appeared as a guest judge alongside Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh during the Dublin audition stage of the seventh series of the British television show ''The X Factor'' on June 28, 2010. She was one of the many celebrities chosen to fulfil the role of judge whilst Dannii Minogue was on maternity leave. In May 2010, Perry released the first single from her second studio album, '' Teenage Dream '' entitled, "California Gurls". The single peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks. "Teenage Dream" was released as the second single from her album, and it also topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming her third number one and second from the album. ''Teenage Dream'' was released August 24, 2010 and debuted atop the ''Billboard'' 200 chart with sales of 192,000 copies in its first week. The album as since sold over 2 million copies in the US, being certified Platinum by the RIAA. Following the album's release, the third single "Firework" was released and became the third consecutive single from ''Teenage Dream'' to top the Hot 100. With this, Perry became the first female in eleven years to have three consecutive number-ones from one album. thumb|left|upright|Perry at the TV Week Logie Awards in 2011 In February 2011, Perry released the fourth single, "E.T.", a remixed version featuring Kanye West, that peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks. The music video for "E.T." was directed by Floria Sigismondi and features Shaun Ross as the main love interest. With "E.T." at number one on the chart of May 12, 2011, Perry became the first artist to spend 52 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In June 2011, Perry released the fifth single, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". A remixed version featuring American rapper Missy Elliot was released in early August. The song topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on August 17, 2011, making Perry the first female and second artist (tied with Michael Jackson) ever to have five No. 1 singles from one album. Also, when the song reached number 1 in the Pop Songs airplay chart, "Teenage Dream" became the first album to have 5 number 1's from the same album on that chart. Additionally, when the song reached number one in the Adult Pop Songs airplay chart, the album become the first to have 4 number 1's from the same album on the chart. In October 2011, Perry released the sixth single, "The One That Got Away". It reached No. 3 on ''Hot 100'', becoming the third album in history to produce six top five hit singles, and the seventh song from ''Teenage Dream'' to reach the top of the ''Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs'', the most by any album and setting a new record in the chart. Perry released a "The One That Got Away" remix featuring American rapper B.o.B. in December 2011. An acoustic version of the song was released in January 2012.

From February 2011 to January 2012, Perry embarked on an extensive world tour in support of ''Teenage Dream'', the ''California Dreams Tour'', playing 124 shows in Europe, Australasia, Asia, North America and South America and earning over $59 million. Perry made her perfume debut, releasing a fragrance named "Purr" in November. It is packaged in a cat-shaped bottle, and is available through Nordstrom stores. She followed it up with the fragrance's first flanker, "Meow". In July 2011, Perry made her film debut in the 3D family film ''The Smurfs'' as Smurfette. ''The Smurfs'' earned $557,771,535 worldwide during its theatrical run. Perry appeared at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2011. She was nominated for ten awards, received the most nominations of the ceremony and was the first singer to have four different music videos shown in various categories, eventually winning three of those, Video of the Year for "Firework", Best Collaboration and Best Special Effects for "E.T.". On September 17, 2011, marked Perry' 69th consecutive week in the Top 10 with single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". On September 23, 2011, she performed, along with Elton John, Brazilian Claudia Leitte and friend Rihanna, on the opening day of the 2011 Rock in Rio festival, which was extended to October 2. Perry performed for 100 thousand people, a show that received high praise from critics and audience alike.

On December 14, 2011, the annual list ''Forbes'' was elected the third singer who earned more than US$44 million, behind Lady Gaga (US$90 million) and Taylor Swift (US$45 million). On December 15, 2011, Perry was elected the ''Artist of the Year'' by MTV, for their performance on the charts worldwide and won the record during the year. On December 20, 2011, She released a Barbie doll that represents her style in 2012. On January 8, 2012, Perry was named the sixth best-selling digital artist of all time in the United States, having sold 37,620,00 million singles and albums as of 2011, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In the week ending January 15, 2012, Perry became the first artist ever to have five songs sell over 5 million digital copies in the USA. Perry was once again recruited by EA Games to promote their new expansion pack "''The Sims 3: Showtime''" for their ''The Sims'' game franchise. The game content was based on Perry. Perry became the first person to have six songs top the ''Billboard'' Adult Pop Songs chart. In March 27, 2012, she re-released ''Teenage Dream'' under the title ''Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection'' on March 27, 2012. The lead single from the re-release (and seventh single from the ''Teenage Dream'' era overall) was "Part of Me", which released in February, debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Perry has announced that she will release a part-biopic, part-concert film to be shown in 3D titled ''Katy Perry: Part of Me'' to be released on the 4th of July weekend of 2012 by Paramount Pictures. In April 2012, Perry performed in India for the first time at the opening ceremony of 5th edition of Indian Premier League, cricket match, in Chennai along with Indian actors Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Prabhu Deva. She performed her songs "Teenage Dream" and a remix version of "California Gurls". In April 2012, Perry stated that she was working on new music and changing her musical style, "My music is about to get real f---ing dark. You'd never see my face because my hair would be in it."

Artistry

Musical style and themes

Perry has a contralto vocal range. Perry's first album is of the Gospel music genre. She related that her perspective in music was "a bit enclosed and very strict", and everything she did was church-related. Her second album, ''One of the Boys'', is described as "secular" and "rock," and reflects a departure from her religious musical roots. Her next album ''Teenage Dream'' featured more pop songs in the vein of ''Boys''. In her childhood, Perry was introduced to the music of Alanis Morissette and Freddie Mercury, the late frontman of the British band Queen. In her tribute to Mercury on what would have been his 65th birthday, Perry stated; "Without you I wouldn't be making music or doing what I do because your lyrics inspired me as a 15 year old girl." Queen's song "Killer Queen" has inspired her to pursue a career in pop music after her first album. She also described that Morissette's album ''Jagged Little Pill'' as having influenced her music profoundly; even going on to work with Morissette's collaborator on the album, Glen Ballard because of that. Influence also came from a number of female pop rock singers, including Cyndi Lauper, Shirley Manson, Pat Benatar and Joan Jett, as "they came out with a vengeance." Perry also cited Madonna as another big influence, saying "I want to evolve like Madonna."

Perry is artistically involved in her projects, especially in the writing process. Since she could play guitar, she would start writing songs at home and present it to her producers. Perry is mostly inspired by specific moments of her life. She said it is easy for her to write songs about heartbreak. Most of the themes in ''One of the Boys'' deal with heartbreak, teen adventure, and "puking into toilets". Perry's mother reportedly told British tabloid ''Daily Mail'' that she dislikes her daughter's music, calling it "shameful and disgusting". Perry said her mother was misquoted and told MTV that it was false information. Her songs "Ur So Gay" and "I Kissed a Girl" have received negative reactions from both religious and gay sectors. The songs have been respectively labeled as being homophobic and promoting homosexuality, as well as "lez ploitational". Musicians Pink, Kathleen Hanna and Beth Ditto criticised "I Kissed A Girl" as offensive to the LGBT community. MTV mentioned criticism suggesting that Perry is using "bi-curiosity" as a way to sell records. Perry responded to the controversy surrounding "Ur So Gay": "It's not a negative connotation. It's not, 'you're so gay,' like, 'you're so lame,' but the fact of the matter is that this boy should've been gay. I totally understand how it could be misconstrued or whatever ... It wasn't stereotyping anyone in particular, I was talking about ex-boyfriends." Perry has written several songs for other singers, including Ashley Tisdale ("Time's Up"), Selena Gomez & the Scene ("Rock God" and "That's More Like It"), Kelly Clarkson ("Long Shot" and "I Do Not Hook Up"), Jessica James ("Bullet" and "Girl Next Door"), Lesley Roy ("Slow Goodbye"), Kady Malloy ("Wish You the Worst"), and Adam Lambert ("Cookoo").

Public image

Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. It is often humorous, bright in color, and reminiscent of different decades, and she frequently uses fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon, as part of her outfits. Perry's transformation into an artist began with fashion, inspired by American film actress Dominique Swain's portrayal in the 1997 film ''Lolita''. She defines her fashion style as "a bit of a concoction of different things". Her fashion has caught the attention of designers. In June 2008, a publicity photo that showed Perry posing with a switchblade was criticized. The picture was defended as only an effort to give Perry a "sexy, harder edge". The criticism leveled at her was mocked by Perry who subsequently posed with a spoon instead. She was ranked 7th in ''Rolling Stone'''s global Queen of Pop poll in July 2011. Perry is also a gay activist. According to Dosomething.org, Perry had stated "I am a gay activist and I say that proudly. I voted no on Prop 8 (California’s Nov. 4, 2008, amendment declaring that marriage is defined as a union solely between a man and a woman), of course."

Personal life

Perry has had relationships with Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy, whom she met in a recording studio in New York, breaking up in December 2008; Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen, with whom she worked on her album ''Teenage Dream'' and British comedian Russell Brand.

Perry first met Brand in the summer of 2009 when she filmed a cameo appearance for Brand's film ''Get Him to the Greek''. Although the cameo ultimately did not make it into the final cut of the movie, Perry later noted that the "scene called for me to make out with him...And on the way down the stairs after the scene, I was hopping like a bunny. I hop like a bunny when I'm happy". Perry and Brand began dating after meeting again several months later in September 2009 at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand, as host, remarked, "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I'm the real winner tonight." The couple became engaged in December 2009 while vacationing in India. At the time, Perry stated that she had plans to take dual British citizenship. "One of the first things I'll do is apply for dual citizenship. I'm not too sure if I have to take a test as I've not had time to look into it. But England is like my second home". In an August 2010 interview with ''Rolling Stone'', Perry also noted that, "I am sensitive to Russell taking the Lord's name in vain and to Lady Gaga putting a rosary in her mouth. I think when you put sex and spirituality in the same bottle and shake it up, bad things happen." Perry and Brand married on October 23, 2010, in a traditional Hindu ceremony near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand proposed.

After 14 months of marriage, Brand filed for divorce from Perry on December 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. The announcement of the divorce followed media speculation that the couple was having marital problems, including an ''Us Weekly'' report that they had got into a "massive fight" and spent Christmas 2011 on opposite sides of the globe, with Perry in Hawaii and Brand in London, both without their wedding rings. After Perry and Brand reached an agreement on financial issues, a judge granted the divorce request in February 2012; however the divorce will not become effective until July 2012, as California law requires a six-month interval from the initial filing.

Discography

''Katy Hudson'' (2001)

''One of the Boys'' (2008)

''Teenage Dream'' (2010)

Tours

Headlining

Hello Katy Tour (2009)

California Dreams Tour (2011–2012)

Co-headlining The Strangely Normal Tour (2001)

Warped Tour 2008 (2008)

Opening act

No Doubt – Summer Tour 2009 (North American select dates) (2009)

Promotional

Teenage Dream Tour (2010)

Filmography

+ List of television and films credits
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2008	''''	Herself	Episode 8914
2008		Herself
2010	''American Idol''	Guest judge
2010		Guest judge
2010	''Sesame Street''	Herself	Online special (deleted from televised episode due to viewer controversy)
2010	''The Simpsons''	Herself	"The Fight Before Christmas" (Season 22, episode 8)
2010	''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition''	Herself	"Boys Hope/Girls Hope" (Season 8, Episode 1)
2010	''Get Him to the Greek''	Herself	Deleted scene, Uncredited
2010—2011	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself/Host/Musical Guest	"SNL episode 681
2011	''[[How I Met Your Mother''	Honey
2011	''America's Got Talent''	Guest judge	July 27 (Season 6, Qtr Finals 3 results)
2011		Smurfette (voice)
2011		Herself	Deleted scene, Cameo appearance
2012	''Raising Hope''	Rikki	"Single White Female Role Model" (Season 2, Episode 16)
2012	''Katy Perry: Part of Me''	Herself	3D film
2013	''The Smurfs 2''	Smurfette (voice)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Category:1984 births Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:American bloggers Category:American Christians Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American female guitarists Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American pop rock singers Category:American pop singer-songwriters Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Brit Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Santa Barbara, California Category:Singers from California Category:The X Factor judges

af:Katy Perry ar:كايتي بيري frp:Katy Perry az:Keti Perri bn:ক্যাটি পেরি bg:Кейти Пери bs:Katy Perry br:Katy Perry ca:Katy Perry cs:Katy Perry co:Katy Perry da:Katy Perry de:Katy Perry et:Katy Perry es:Katy Perry eo:Katy Perry eu:Katy Perry fa:کیتی پری fo:Katy Perry fr:Katy Perry gl:Katy Perry ko:케이티 페리 hy:Քեյթի Փերրի hi:कैटी पेरी hr:Katy Perry ilo:Katy Perry id:Katy Perry is:Katy Perry it:Katy Perry he:קייטי פרי jv:Katy Perry kn:ಕೇಟಿ ಪೆರಿ ka:კეტი პერი kk:Кэти Перри la:Catia Perri lv:Keitija Perija lt:Katy Perry hu:Katy Perry mk:Кети Пери ms:Katy Perry mn:Кэти Перри nl:Katy Perry ja:ケイティ・ペリー no:Katy Perry nn:Katy Perry pl:Katy Perry pt:Katy Perry ro:Katy Perry ru:Перри, Кэти sq:Katy Perry simple:Katy Perry sk:Katy Perry sl:Katy Perry sr:Кејти Пери sh:Katy Perry fi:Katy Perry sv:Katy Perry tl:Katy Perry ta:கேட்டி பெர்ரி te:కాటి పెర్రీ th:เคที เพอร์รี tr:Katy Perry uk:Кеті Перрі vi:Katy Perry yi:קעטי פערי zh:姬蒂·佩芮

Birth name	Willard Mitt Romney
Alt	Outdoor portrait of Mitt Romney taken in 2011
Order	70th
Office	Governor of Massachusetts
Lieutenant	Kerry Healey
Term start	January 2, 2003
Term end	January 4, 2007
Predecessor	Jane Swift (Acting)
Successor	Deval Patrick
Birth date	March 12, 1947
Birth place	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Party	Republican
Residence	Belmont, MassachusettsWolfeboro, New HampshireLa Jolla, San Diego, California
Spouse
Children	Taggart (Tagg) (b. 1970) Matthew (b. 1971) Joshua (b. 1975) Benjamin (b. 1978) Craig (b. 1981)
Alma mater
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Blank1	Positions
Data1	Co-founder, Bain Capital (1984–1999)CEO, Bain & Company (1991–1992)CEO, 2002 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee (1999–2002)
Signature	Mitt Romney Signature.svg
Signature alt	Signature "Mitt Romney", first name more legible than last name
Website	MittRomney.com }}

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.

The son of George W. Romney (the former Governor of Michigan) and Lenore Romney, Mitt Romney was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and during his college years served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France. He married Ann Davies in 1969 and they have five children. He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University, and then earned a joint JD and MBA from Harvard University. Romney entered the management consulting business, which led to a position at Bain & Company. Eventually serving as CEO, Romney brought the company out of crisis. He was co-founder and head of the spin-off company Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. His wealth helped fund most of his future political campaigns. Active in his church, he served as ward bishop and later stake president in his area. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy. Romney organized and steered the 2002 Winter Olympics as head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, and helped turn the troubled games into a financial success.

Romney was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 but did not seek re-election in 2006. He presided over a series of spending cuts and increases in fees that eliminated an up to $1.5 billion deficit. He also signed into law the Massachusetts health care reform legislation, which provided near-universal health insurance access via subsidies and state-level mandates and was the first of its kind in the nation. During the course of his political career, his positions or rhetorical emphasis have shifted more towards American conservatism in several areas.

Romney ran for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, winning several primaries and caucuses but losing the nomination to John McCain. In the following years, he gave speeches and raised campaign funds on behalf of fellow Republicans. In June 2011, Romney announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The results of the caucuses and primaries have placed him as the clear leader and the Republican National Committee has declared him the presumptive nominee.

Early life and education

Heritage and youth

Romney was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was the youngest child of George W. Romney, who by 1948 had become an automobile executive, and Lenore Romney (née LaFount). His mother was a native of Logan, Utah, and his father had been born in a Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico, to American parents. Romney is of primarily English descent, and also has more distant Scottish and German ancestry. Romney is a fifth-generation member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A great-great-grandfather, Miles Archibald Romney, converted to the faith in its first decade, and another great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, was an early leader in the church during the same time.

The three siblings before him were Margo Lynn, Jane LaFount, and G. Scott, followed by Mitt after a gap of six years. Romney was named after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend, and his father's cousin Milton "Mitt" Romney, 1925–1929 quarterback for the Chicago Bears.|group="nb"}} When he was five, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills. His father became CEO of American Motors and turned the company around from the brink of bankruptcy; by the time he was twelve, his father had become a nationally known figure in print and on television. Romney idolized his father, read automotive trade magazines, kept abreast of automotive developments, and aspired to be an executive in the industry. His father also presided over the Detroit Stake of the LDS Church.

Romney went to public elementary schools and then from seventh grade on, attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, a private boys preparatory school of the classic mold where he was the lone Mormon and where many students came from even more privileged backgrounds. He was not particularly athletic and at first did not excel at academics. While a sophomore, he participated in the campaign in which his father was elected Governor of Michigan. George Romney was re-elected twice; Mitt worked for him as an intern in the governor's office, and was present at the 1964 Republican National Convention when his moderate father battled conservative party nominee Barry Goldwater over issues of civil rights and ideological extremism. Romney had a steady set of chores and worked summer jobs, including being a security guard at a Chrysler plant.

Initially a manager for the ice hockey team and a member of the pep squad and various school clubs, during his final year at Cranbook, Romney joined the cross country running team and improved academically, but was still not a star pupil. His social skills were good, however, and he won an award for those "whose contributions to school life are often not fully recognized through already existing channels". Romney was an energetic child who enjoyed pranks.|group="nb"}}

In March of his senior year, he began dating Ann Davies, two years behind him, whom he had once known in elementary school; she attended the private Kingswood School, the sister school to Cranbrook. The two informally agreed to marriage around the time of his June 1965 graduation.

University, France mission, marriage and children: 1965–1975

Romney attended Stanford University for a year, where he worked as a night security guard to fund secret trips home to see Ann. Although the campus was becoming radicalized with the beginnings of 1960s social and political movements, Romney kept a well-groomed appearance and enjoyed traditional campus events. In May 1966, he was part of a counter-protest against a group staging a sit-in in the university administration building in opposition to draft status tests.

In July 1966, Romney left for 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary. Missionary work was a traditional rite of passage that his father and many other relatives had volunteered for. He arrived in Le Havre with ideas about how to change and promote the French Mission, while facing physical and economic deprivation in their cramped quarters. Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced. Like most individual Mormon missionaries, he did not gain many converts, with the nominally Catholic but secular, wine-loving French people proving especially resistant to a religion that prohibits alcohol. He became demoralized, and later recalled it as the only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected." In Nantes, Romney was bruised defending two female missionaries against a horde of local rugby players. He continued to work hard; having grown up in Michigan rather than the more insular Utah world, Romney was better able to interact with the French. He was promoted to zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, then in the spring of that year became assistant to the mission president in Paris, the highest position for a missionary. In the Mission Home in Paris he enjoyed palace-like accommodations. Romney's support for the U.S. role in the Vietnam War was only reinforced when the French greeted him with hostility over the matter and he debated them in return. He also witnessed the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings.

In June 1968, an automobile Romney was driving in southern France was hit by another vehicle, seriously injuring him and killing one of his passengers, the wife of the mission president. As they drove through the village of Bernos-Beaulac, a Mercedes that was passing a truck missed a curve and suddenly swerved into the opposite lane and hit the Citroën DS Romney was driving in a head-on collision. Trapped between the steering wheel and door, the unconscious and seriously injured Romney had to be pried from the car; a French police officer mistakenly wrote ''Il est mort'' in his passport. The wife of the mission president was killed and other passengers were seriously injured as well. George Romney relied on his friend Sargent Shriver, the U.S. Ambassador to France, to go to the local hospital and discover that his son had survived. Romney, who was not at fault in the accident, had suffered broken ribs, a fractured arm, a concussion, and facial injuries, but recovered quickly without needing surgery. The French police say that they have no records of the incident because such records are routinely destroyed after 10 years.|name="nb-acc"|group="nb"}} Romney, who was not at fault in the accident, became co-acting president of a mission demoralized and disorganized by the May civil disturbances and by the car accident. Romney rallied and motivated the others and they met an ambitious goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most for the mission in a decade. By the end of his stint in December 1968, Romney was overseeing the work of 175 fellow members. Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and speaks French. The experience in the country also changed him. It instilled in him a belief that life is fragile and that he needed seriousness of purpose. He gained organizational experience and a record of accomplishments that he had theretofore lacked. It also represented a crucible, after having been only a half-hearted Mormon growing up: "On a mission, your faith in Jesus Christ either evaporates or it becomes much deeper. For me it became much deeper."

While he was away, Ann Davies had converted to the LDS Church, guided by George Romney, and had begun attending Brigham Young University (BYU). Romney was nervous that she had been wooed by others while he was away, and she had indeed started dating popular campus figure Kim S. Cameron and had sent Romney in France a "Dear John letter", greatly upsetting him; he wrote to her to in an attempt to win her back. At their first meeting following Romney's return they reconnected, and decided to get married in two weeks but agreed to wait three months to appease their parents. At Ann's request, Romney began attending Brigham Young too, in February 1969. He later recounted that he had planned to attend BYU to convince Ann to marry him, then the couple planned to transfer together back to Stanford, but in the end, they enjoyed BYU and decided to stay.|name="nb-byu"|group="nb"}} The couple were married on March 21, 1969, in a civil ceremony at Ann's family's home in Bloomfield Hills that was presided over by a church elder. The following day the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple.

Romney had missed much of the tumultuous American anti-Vietnam War movement while away, and was surprised to learn that his father had turned against the war during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign. Regarding the military draft, Romney had initially received a student deferment, then like most other Mormon missionaries a ministerial deferment while in France, then another student deferment. When those ran out, his high number in the December 1969 draft lottery (300) ensured he would not be selected.

At culturally conservative BYU, Romney continued to be separated from much of the upheaval of the era, and did not join in those protests that did occur against the war or the LDS Church's policy at the time of denying full membership to blacks. He became president of, and an innovative fundraiser for, the all-male Cougar Club and showed a new-found discipline in his studies. In his senior year he took leave to work as driver and advance man for his mother Lenore Romney's eventually unsuccessful 1970 campaign for U.S. Senator from Michigan. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with highest honors in 1971, and gave commencement addresses to both his own College of Humanities and to the whole university.|group="nb"}}

The Romneys' first son, Tagg, was born in 1970 while the Romneys were undergraduates at Brigham Young and living in a basement apartment. Ann subsequently gave birth to Matt (1971), Josh (1975), Ben (1978), and Craig (1981). Ann Romney's work as a homemaker would enable her husband to pursue his career.

Romney still wanted to pursue a business path, but his father, by now serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, advised that a law degree would be valuable. Thus Romney became one of only fifteen students to enroll at the recently created joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration four-year program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Fellow students considered Romney guilelessly optimistic, noting his solid work ethic along with a buttoned-down demeanor and appearance. He readily adapted to the business school's pragmatic, data-driven case study method of teaching, participated in class well, and led a study group whom he pushed to get all A's. He had a different social experience from most of his classmates, since he lived in a Belmont, Massachusetts, house with Ann and two children; he was non-ideological and did not involve himself in the political or social issues of the day. He graduated in 1975 ''cum laude'' from the law school, in the top third of that class, and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.

Business career

Management consulting

Romney was heavily recruited and chose to remain in Massachusetts to work for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), thinking that working as a management consultant to a variety of companies would prepare him for a future job as a chief executive. Romney was part of a 1970s wave of top graduates who chose to go into consulting rather than join a major company directly. Romney's legal and business education proved useful in his job, and he became a rising star while applying BCG principles such as the growth-share matrix.

In 1977, he was hired away by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm in Boston that had been formed a few years earlier by Bill Bain and other former BCG employees. Bain would later say of the thirty-year-old Romney, "He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe ten years older." With Bain & Company, Romney learned the "Bain way", which consisted of immersing the firm in each client's business, and not simply to issue recommendations, but to stay with the company until they were changed for the better. With a record of helping clients such as the Monsanto Company, Outboard Marine Corporation, Burlington Industries, and Corning Incorporated, Romney became a vice president of the firm in 1978 and within a few years one of its best consultants and one sought after by clients over more senior partners. Romney became a believer in Bain's methods; he later said, "The idea that consultancies should not measure themselves by the thickness of their reports, or even the elegance of their writing, but rather by whether or not the report was effectively implemented was an inflection point in the history of consulting."

Private equity

Romney was restless for a company of his own to run, and in 1983, Bill Bain offered him the chance to head a new venture that would buy into companies, have them benefit from Bain techniques, and then reap higher rewards than just consulting fees. Romney initially refrained from accepting the offer, and Bain re-arranged the terms in a complicated partnership structure so that there was no financial or professional risk to Romney. Thus, in 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found the spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital. In the face of skepticism from potential investors, Bain and Romney spent a year raising the $37 million in funds needed to start the new operation, which had fewer than ten employees. As general partner of the new firm, Romney spent little money on costs such as office appearance, and saw weak spots in so many potential deals that by 1986, few had been done. At first, Bain Capital focused on venture capital opportunities. Their first big success came with a 1986 investment to help start Staples Inc., after founder Thomas G. Stemberg convinced Romney of the market size for office supplies and Romney convinced others; Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on the Staples board of directors for over a decade.

Romney soon switched Bain Capital's focus from startups to the relatively new business of leveraged buyouts: buying existing firms with money mostly borrowed against their assets, partnering with existing management to apply the "Bain way" to their operations (rather than the hostile takeovers practiced in other leverage buyout scenarios), and then selling them off in a few years. Existing CEOs were offered large equity stakes in the process, as part of Bain Capital's belief in the emerging agency theory notion that CEOs should be bound to maximizing shareholder value rather than other goals. Bain Capital lost most of its money in many of its early leveraged buyouts, but then started finding deals that made large returns. The firm invested in or acquired Accuride, Brookstone, Domino's Pizza, Sealy Corporation, Sports Authority, and Artisan Entertainment, as well as lesser-known companies in the industrial and medical sectors. During the 14 years Romney headed the company, Bain Capital's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent. Much of this profit was earned from a relatively small number of deals, with Bain Capital's overall success–to–failure ratio being about even.

Less an entrepreneur than an executive running an investment operation, Romney was good at presenting and selling the deals the company made. The firm initially gave a cut of its profits to Bain & Company, but Romney persuaded Bain to give that up. Within Bain Capital, Romney spread profits from deals widely within the firm to keep people motivated, often keeping less than ten percent for himself. Viewed as a fair manager, he received considerable loyalty from the firm's members. Romney's wary instincts were still in force at times, and he was generally data-driven and averse to risk. He wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners prevailed and it eventually gained billions. He also personally opted out of the Artisan Entertainment deal, not wanting to profit from a studio that produced R-rated films. Romney was on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company later found guilty of defrauding the government; Bain Capital tripled its investment before selling off the company, and the fraud was discovered by the new owners (Romney was never implicated). In some cases Romney had little involvement with a company once acquired.

Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after the firm had left. How jobs added compared to those lost due to these investments and buyouts is unknown, due to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy on behalf of itself and its investors. In any case, maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's fundamental goal, as it was for most private equity operations. Bain Capital's acquisition of Ampad exemplified a deal where it profited handsomely from early payments and management fees, even though the subject company itself ended up going into bankruptcy. Dade Behring was another case where Bain Capital received an eightfold return on its investment, but the company itself was saddled with debt and laid off over a thousand employees before Bain Capital exited (the company subsequently went into bankruptcy, with more layoffs, before recovering and prospering). Bain was among the private equity firms that took the most fees in such cases.

In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse. He was announced as its new CEO in January 1991 (but drew only a symbolic salary of one dollar). Romney managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while rallying the firm's thousand employees, imposing a new governing structure that included Bain and the other founding partners giving up control, and increasing fiscal transparency. Within about a year, he had led Bain & Company through a turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without further layoffs or partner defections. He turned Bain & Company over to new leadership and returned to Bain Capital in December 1992.

Romney left Bain Capital in February 1999 to serve as the President and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. By that time, Bain Capital was on its way to being one of the top private equity firms in the nation, having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, having 115 employees overall, and having $4 billion under its management.

Wealth

Bain Capital's approach of applying consulting expertise to the companies it invested in became widely copied within the private equity industry. Economist Steven Kaplan would later say, "[Romney] came up with a model that was very successful and very innovative and that now everybody uses."

At the time of his departure, Romney negotiated an agreement with Bain Capital that allowed him to receive a passive profit share as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and investment funds. Because the private equity business continued to thrive, this deal brought him millions of dollars in income each year.

As a result of his business career, by 2007, Romney and his wife had a net worth of between $190 and $250 million, most of it held in blind trusts. An additional blind trust existed in the name of the Romneys' children and grandchildren that was valued at between $70 and $100 million as of 2007. The couple's net worth remained in the same range as of 2011, and was still held in blind trusts. By 2010 and 2011, Romney and his wife were receiving about $21 million a year from investment income, of which about $3 million went to federal income taxes (based upon the beneficial rate accorded investment income by the U.S. tax code) and about $3.5 million to charity, of which about $2 million was to the LDS Church. Romney has always tithed to the church, including stock from Bain Capital holdings. In 2010, the Romney family's Tyler Charitable Foundation gave out about $650,000, with some of it going to organizations that fight specific diseases.

Local church leadership

During his years in business, Romney also served in the local lay clergy. Around 1977 he became a counselor to an area leader, an unusual post for someone of his age. He then served as ward bishop for Belmont, Massachusetts from 1981 to 1986, acting as the ecclesiastical and administrative head of his congregation. As such, he formulated Sunday services and classes, using the Bible and the Book of Mormon to guide the congregation, and also did home teaching. He forged bonds with other religious institutions in the area when the Belmont meetinghouse was hit by a fire of suspicious origins in 1984; the congregation rotated its meetings at other churches while theirs was rebuilt.

From 1986 to 1994, Romney presided over the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen congregations in eastern Massachusetts with a total of about 4,000 church members. He organized a team to handle financial and management issues, sought to counter anti-Mormon sentiments, and tried to solve social problems among poor Southeast Asian converts. An unpaid position, Romney's local church leadership often took 30 or more hours a week of his time, and he became known for his unflagging energy in the role. Due to his responsibilities, he generally refrained from overnight business travel.

Romney took a hands-on role in general matters, helping in maintenance efforts in- and outside homes, visiting the sick, and counseling troubled or burdened church members. A number of local church members later credited Romney with turning their lives around or helping them through difficult times. Some others were rankled by his leadership style and desired a more consensus-based approach. Romney tried to balance the conservative dogma insisted upon by the church leadership in Utah with the desire by some Massachusetts members to have a more flexible application of doctrine. He agreed with some modest requests from the liberal women's group Exponent II for changes in the way the church dealt with women, but clashed with women who he felt were departing too much from doctrine. In particular, he counseled women not to have abortions except in the rare cases allowed by LDS doctrine, and also in accordance with doctrine encouraged prospective mothers to give up children for adoption when a successful marriage was not present. Romney later said that the years spent as pastor gave him direct exposure to people struggling in economically difficult circumstances different from his own affluent upbringing, and empathy for those going through problematic family situations.

1994 U.S. senatorial campaign

Romney had been thinking about entering politics for a while. He decided to take on longtime incumbent Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, who was more vulnerable than usual in 1994 – in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole, and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. Romney changed his affiliation from Independent to Republican in October 1993 and formally announced his candidacy in February 1994. He stepped down from his position at Bain Capital, and from his church leadership role, during the run.

Romney came from behind to win the Massachusetts Republican Party's nomination for U.S. Senate after buying substantial television time to get out his message and gaining overwhelming support in the state party convention. He then defeated businessman John Lakian in the September 1994 primary with over 80 percent of the vote.

In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious re-election challenger of his career in the young, telegenic, and well-funded Romney. Romney ran as a fresh face, as a businessperson who stated he had created ten thousand jobs, and as a Washington outsider with a solid family image and moderate stands on social issues. When Kennedy tried to tie Romney's policies to those of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Romney responded, "Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to take us back to Reagan-Bush." Romney stated: "Ultimately, this is a campaign about change." After two decades out of public view, his father George re-emerged during the campaign as well.

Romney's campaign was effective in portraying Kennedy as soft on crime, but had trouble establishing its own positions in a consistent manner. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be approximately even. Kennedy responded with a series of attack ads, which focused both on Romney's seemingly shifting political views on issues such as abortion and on the treatment of workers at the Ampad plant owned by Romney's Bain Capital. The latter was effective in blunting Romney's momentum. Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate without a clear winner, but by then Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and stayed ahead afterward. Romney spent $3 million of his own money in the race. This was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein–Michael Huffington Senate race in California.|group="nb"}}

In the November general election, despite a disastrous showing for Democrats overall, Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent, the smallest margin in Kennedy's eight re-election campaigns for the Senate.

2002 Winter Olympics

Romney returned to Bain Capital the day after the election but still smarted from the loss, subsequently telling his brother, "I never want to run for something again unless I can win." When his father died in 1995, Mitt donated his inheritance to BYU's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management and joined the board and was vice-chair of the Points of Light Foundation (which had incorporated his father's National Volunteer Center). His mother died in 1998. Romney felt restless as the decade neared a close; the goal of simply making more money was losing its appeal to him. He no longer had a church leadership position, although he still taught Sunday School. Fearing he would be a focal point for opposition, he had a limited, behind-the-scenes role in trying to ease tensions between the church and local residents during the long and controversial approval and construction process for a Mormon temple in Belmont (nevertheless, it still was sometimes referred to as "Mitt's Temple" by locals). Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998; Romney described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. After two years of severe difficulties with the disease, she found in Park City, Utah (where the couple had built a vacation home) a mixture of mainstream, alternative, and equestrian therapies that gave her a lifestyle mostly without limitations. When the offer came for Romney to take over the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics, to be held in Salt Lake City in Utah, she urged him to take it, and eager for a new challenge, he did. On February 11, 1999, Romney was hired as the president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002.

Before Romney came on, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks. Plans were being made to scale back the games to compensate for the fiscal crisis and there were fears the games might be moved away entirely. The Games had also been damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials, including prior Salt Lake Olympic Committee president and CEO Frank Joklik. Joklik and committee vice president Dave Johnson were forced to resign. Romney's appointment faced some initial criticism from non-Mormons, and fears from Mormons, that it represented cronyism or gave the games too Mormon an image.

Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets, and boosted fund raising. He soothed worried corporate sponsors and recruited many new ones. He admitted past problems, listened to local critics, and rallied Utah's citizenry with a sense of optimism. Romney worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by ignoring those who suggested the games be called off and coordinating a $300 million security budget. Overall he oversaw a $1.32 billion budget, 700 employees, and 26,000 volunteers. The federal government provided $382 million of that budget, much of it because Romney lobbied Congress to provide money for both security- and non-security-related items. An additional federal $1.1 billion was spent on indirect support in the form of highway and transit projects.

Romney became the public face of the Olympic effort, appearing in countless photographs and news stories and even on Olympics souvenir pins. Romney's omnipresence irked those who thought he was taking too much of the credit for the success, or had exaggerated the state of initial distress, or was primarily looking to improve his own image.

Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million, not counting the $224.5 million in security costs contributed by outside sources. Romney broke the record for most private money raised by any individual for an Olympics games, summer or winter. His performance as Olympics head was rated positively by 87 percent of Utahns. Romney and his wife contributed $1 million to the Olympics, and he donated to charity the $1.4 million in salary and severance payments he received for his three years as president and CEO.

Romney was widely praised for his efforts with the 2002 Winter Olympics including by President George W. Bush, and it solidified his reputation as a turnaround artist. Harvard Business School taught a case study based around Romney's actions. Romney wrote a book about his experience titled ''Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games'', published in 2004. The role gave Romney experience in dealing with federal, state, and local entities, a public persona he had previously lacked, and the chance to re-launch his political aspirations. He was mentioned as a possible candidate for statewide office in both Massachusetts and Utah, and also as possibly joining the Bush administration.

Governor of Massachusetts

2002 gubernatorial campaign

In 2002, Republican Acting Governor Jane Swift's administration was plagued by political missteps and personal scandals. Many Republicans viewed her as a liability and considered her unable to win a general election. Prominent GOP activists campaigned to persuade Romney to run for governor. One poll taken at that time showed Republicans favoring Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points. In March 2002, Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination, and so Romney was unopposed in the Republican party primary.

Massachusetts Democratic Party officials contested Romney's eligibility to run for governor, citing residency issues involving Romney's time in Utah for the Olympics. In June 2002, the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission unanimously ruled that Romney was eligible to run.

Romney ran as a political outsider again, saying he was "not a partisan Republican" but rather a "moderate" with "progressive" views. Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially with the Olympics, as the record of someone who would be able to bring a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics. The campaign was the first to use microtargeting techniques, in which fine-grained groups of voters were reached with narrowly tailored messaging. Nevertheless, Romney had difficulty connecting with voters and fell behind his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, in polls for a while before rebounding. He contributed over $6 million to his own campaign during the election, a state record at the time. Romney was elected governor on November 5, 2002, with 50 percent of the vote to O'Brien's 45 percent.

Tenure, 2003–2007

Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003. Both houses of the Massachusetts state legislature held large Democratic majorities. He picked his cabinet and advisors more on managerial abilities than partisan affiliation. Upon entering office in the middle of a fiscal year, Romney faced an immediate $650 million shortfall and a projected $3 billion deficit for the next year. Unexpected revenue of $1.0–1.3 billion from a previously enacted capital gains tax increase and $500 million in unanticipated federal grants decreased the deficit to $1.2–1.5 billion. Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes, the state ran surpluses of around $600–700 million for the last two full fiscal years Romney was in office, although it began running deficits again after that. During fiscal 2007, Romney cut $384 million in spending that the legislature wanted; in January 2007, midway through the fiscal year, incoming Governor Deval Patrick restored that amount, and also declared that the state faced a "looming budget shortfall" of $1 billion for fiscal 2008. Patrick consequently proposed a budget for fiscal 2008 that included $515 million in spending cuts and $295 million in new corporate taxes. As it happened, the state ended fiscal 2007 with a $307.1 million deficit and fiscal 2008 with a $495.2 million deficit.|group="nb"}}

Romney supported raising various fees by more than $300 million, including those for driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and gun licenses. He increased a special gasoline retailer fee by two cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional revenue. (Opponents said the reliance on fees sometimes imposed a hardship on those who could least afford them.) Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years and over $300 million for his term. Romney did so from a sense of rectitude and in the face of conservative and corporate critics that considered them tax increases.

The state legislature, with Romney's support, also cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns. The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led state-run colleges and universities to increase tuition by 63 percent over four years. Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget, but all were overridden by the heavily Democratic legislature.

The cuts in state spending put added pressure on local property taxes; the share of town and city revenues coming from property taxes rose from 49 to 53 percent. The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship but still was below the national average.

Romney was at the forefront of a movement to bring near-universal health insurance coverage to the state, after Staples founder Stemberg told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people and after the federal government, due to the rules of Medicaid funding, threatened to cut $385 million in those payments to Massachusetts if the state did not reduce the number of uninsured recipients of health care services. Despite not having campaigned on the idea of universal health insurance, Romney decided that because people without insurance still received expensive health care, the money spent by the state for such care could be better used to subsidize insurance for the poor.

After positing that any measure adopted not raise taxes and not resemble the previous decade's failed "Hillarycare" proposal, Romney formed a team of consultants from different political backgrounds that beginning in late 2004 came up with a set of innovative proposals more ambitious than an incremental one from the Massachusetts Senate and more acceptable to him than one from the Massachusetts House of Representatives that incorporated a new payroll tax. In particular, Romney pushed for incorporating an individual mandate at the state level. Past rival Ted Kennedy, who had made universal heath coverage his life's work and who, over time, had developed a warm relationship with Romney, gave Romney's plan a positive reception, which encouraged Democratic legislators to cooperate. The effort eventually gained the support of all major stakeholders within the state, and Romney helped break a logjam between rival Democratic leaders in the legislature.

On April 12, 2006, Romney signed the resulting Massachusetts health reform law, which requires nearly all Massachusetts residents to buy health insurance coverage or face escalating tax penalties such as the loss of their personal income tax exemption. The bill also establishes means-tested state subsidies for people who do not have adequate employer insurance and who make below an income threshold, by using funds previously designated to compensate for the health costs of the uninsured. He vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including a controversial $295-per-employee assessment on businesses that do not offer health insurance and provisions guaranteeing dental benefits to Medicaid recipients. The legislature overrode all eight vetoes, but the governor's office said the differences were not essential. The law was the first of its kind in the nation and became the signature achievement of Romney's term in office.|group="nb"}}

At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions, but advocated tolerance and supported some domestic partnership benefits. Faced with the dilemma of choosing between same-sex marriage or civil unions after the November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing same-sex marriages (''Goodridge v. Department of Public Health''), Romney reluctantly backed a state constitutional amendment in February 2004 that would have banned same-sex marriage but still allow civil unions, viewing it as the only feasible way to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. In May 2004, Romney instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but citing a 1913 law that barred out-of-state residents from getting married in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home state, no marriage licenses were to be issued to out-of-state same-sex couples not planning to move to Massachusetts. In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that the amendment confused voters who oppose both same-sex marriage and civil unions. Instead, Romney endorsed a petition effort led by the Coalition for Marriage & Family that would have banned same-sex marriage and made no provisions for civil unions. In 2004 and 2006, he urged the U.S. Senate to vote in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.

In 2005, Romney revealed a change of view regarding abortion, moving from an "unequivocal" pro-choice position expressed during his 2002 campaign to a pro-life one where he opposed ''Roe v. Wade''. He vetoed a bill on pro-life grounds that would expand access to emergency contraception in hospitals and pharmacies (the veto was overridden by the legislature).

Romney generally used the bully pulpit approach towards promoting his agenda, staging well-organized media events to appeal directly to the public rather than pushing his proposals in behind-doors sessions with the state legislature. Romney dealt with a crisis of confidence in Boston's Big Dig project – that followed a fatal ceiling collapse in 2006 – by wresting control of the project from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and helping ensure it would eventually complete.

During 2004, Romney spent considerable effort trying to bolster the state Republican Party, but it failed to gain any seats in the state legislative elections that year. Given a prime-time appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention, Romney was already being discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate. Midway through his term, Romney decided that he wanted to stage a full-time run for president, and on December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor. As chair of the Republican Governors Association, Romney traveled around the country, meeting prominent Republicans and building a national political network; he spent part or all of more than 200 days out of state during 2006, preparing for his run. Romney's frequent out-of-state travel contributed towards his approval rating declining in public polls towards the end of his term. The weak condition of the Republican state party was one of several factors that led to Democrat Deval Patrick's lopsided win over Republican Kerry Healey in the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Romney filed to register a presidential campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission on his penultimate day in office as governor. Romney's term ended January 4, 2007.

2008 presidential campaign

Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. In his speech, Romney frequently invoked his father and his own family and stressed experiences in the private, public, and voluntary sectors that had brought him to this point. He said, "Throughout my life, I have pursued innovation and transformation," and casting himself as a political outsider, said, "I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by a lifelong politician."

The assets that Romney's campaign began with included his résumé of a highly-profitable career in the business world and his stewardship of the Olympics.|group="nb"}} Romney also had political experience as governor, together with a political pedigree courtesy of his father, and had a reputation for a strong work ethic and energy level. Ann Romney, who had become an outspoken advocate for those with multiple sclerosis, was in remission and would be an active participant in his campaign, helping to soften his political personality. Moreover, a number of commentators noted that with his square jaw and ample hair graying at the temples, the Romney – referred to as handsome in scores of media stories – physically matched one of the common images of what some believed a president should look like. Romney's liabilities included having run for senator and served as governor in one of the nation's most liberal states, having taken some positions there that were opposed by the party's conservative base, and subsequently shifting those positions. His religion was also viewed with suspicion and skepticism by some in the Evangelical portion of the party.

Romney assembled for his campaign a veteran group of Republican staffers, consultants, and pollsters. He was little-known nationally, though, and stayed around the 10 percent range in Republican preference polls for the first half of 2007. He proved the most effective fundraiser of any of the Republican candidates; his Olympics ties helped him with fundraising from Utahns and from sponsors and trustees of the games. He also partly financed his campaign with his own personal fortune. 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. Romney's staff suffered from internal strife and the candidate himself was indecisive at times, constantly asking for more data before making a decision.

During all of his political campaigns, Romney has generally avoided speaking publicly about specific Mormon doctrines, referring to the U.S. Constitution prohibition of religious tests for public office. But persistent questions about the role of religion in Romney's life in this race, as well as Southern Baptist minister and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's rise in the polls based upon an explicitly Christian-themed campaign, led to the December 6, 2007, "Faith in America" speech. He said should neither be elected nor rejected based upon his religion, and echoed Senator John F. Kennedy's famous speech during 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." Instead of discussing the specific tenets of his faith, he said that he would be informed by it and that, "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Academics would later study the role religion had played in the campaign. The authors concluded that, "For Romney ... religion ''is'' the central story." 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 Rodham 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. Those authors concluded that, "for a Mormon candidate, the road to the presidency remains very rough ... The bias against a Mormon candidate is substantial." |group="nb"}}

In the January 3, 2008, Iowa Republican caucuses, the first contest of the primary season, Romney received 25 percent of the vote and placed second to the vastly outspent Huckabee, who received 34 percent. Of the 60 percent of caucus-goers who were evangelical Christians, Huckabee was supported by about half of them while Romney by only a fifth. A couple of days later, Romney won the lightly contested Wyoming Republican caucuses.

At a Saint Anselm College debate, Huckabee and McCain pounded away at Romney's image as a flip flopper. Indeed, this label would stick to Romney through the campaign (but was one that Romney rejected as unfair and inaccurate, except for his acknowledged change of mind on abortion). 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." Romney's staff would conclude that competing as a candidate of social conservatism and ideological purity rather than of pragmatic competence had been a mistake.

Romney finished in second place by 5 percentage points to the resurgent McCain in the next-door-to-his-home-state New Hampshire primary on January 8. Romney rebounded to win the January 15 Michigan primary over McCain by a solid margin, capitalizing on his childhood ties to the state and his vow to bring back lost automotive industry jobs which was seen by several commentators as unrealistic.|group="nb"}} On January 19, Romney won the lightly contested Nevada caucuses, but placed fourth in the intense South Carolina primary, where he had effectively ceded the contest to his rivals. McCain gained further momentum with his win in South Carolina, leading to a showdown between him and Romney in the Florida primary.

For ten days, Romney campaigned intensively on economic issues and the burgeoning subprime mortgage crisis, while McCain repeatedly, and inaccurately, asserted that Romney favored a premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.|group="nb"}} McCain won key last-minute endorsements from Florida Senator Mel Martinez and Governor Charlie Crist, which helped push him to a 5 percentage point victory on January 29. Although many Republican officials were now lining up behind McCain, Romney persisted through the nationwide Super Tuesday contests on February 5. There he won primaries or caucuses in several states, including Massachusetts, Alaska, Minnesota, Colorado and Utah, but McCain won more, including large states such as California and New York. Trailing McCain in delegates by a more than two-to-one margin, Romney announced the end of his campaign on February 7 during a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Altogether, Romney had won 11 primaries and caucuses, received about 4.7 million total votes, and garnered about 280 delegates.

Romney endorsed McCain for president a week later. He became one of the McCain campaign's most visible surrogates, appearing on behalf of the GOP nominee at fundraisers, state Republican party conventions, and on cable news programs. His efforts earned McCain's respect and the two developed a warmer relationship; he was on the nominee's short list for the vice presidential running mate slot, where his economic expertise would have balanced one of McCain's weaknesses. McCain, behind in the polls, opted instead for a high-risk, high-reward "game changer", and selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. McCain lost the election to Democratic Senator Barack Obama.

Activity between presidential campaigns

Following the election, Romney paved the way for a possible 2012 presidential campaign by using his Free and Strong America PAC to raise money for other Republican candidates and to pay for salaries and consulting fees for his existing political staff. A network of former staff and supporters around the nation were eager for him to run again. He continued to give speeches and raise campaign funds on behalf of fellow Republicans, but turned down many potential media appearances so as not to become overexposed. He also spoke before business, educational, and motivational groups. He served on the board of directors of Marriott International for a second time (his first tenure was from 1993 to 2002) from 2009 to 2011.

The Romneys sold their main home in Belmont and their ski house in Utah, leaving them an estate along Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and an oceanfront home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, California, which they had bought the year before. Both locations were near some of the Romneys' grandchildren, who by 2011 numbered sixteen. The San Diego location was also ideal for Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her late 2008 diagnosis and lumpectomy for mammary ductal carcinoma in situ. Romney maintained his voting registration in Massachusetts, however, and bought a smaller condominium in Belmont during 2010. Romney was an early supporter of Scott Brown, the successful Republican candidate in that race. Some of Romney's former aides were used by Brown's campaign and Romney raised funds for Brown.|group="nb"}} In February 2010, Romney had a minor altercation with LMFAO member Skyler Gordy, known as Sky Blu, on an airplane flight.

Romney's book, ''No Apology: The Case for American Greatness'', was released in March 2010; an 18-state book tour was undertaken. The book, which debuted atop ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list, avoided anecdotes about Romney's personal or political life and focused on a presentation of his economic and geopolitical views. Earnings from the book were donated to charity.

In nationwide opinion polling for the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries, he led polls or placed in the top three with Palin and Huckabee. A January 2010 ''National Journal'' survey of political insiders found that a majority of Republican insiders, and a plurality of Democratic insiders, predicted Romney would become the party's 2012 nominee. Romney campaigned heavily for Republican candidates in the 2010 midterm elections, and raised the most funds of any of the prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidates. Beginning in early 2011, Romney presented a more relaxed visual image.

2012 presidential campaign

On April 11, 2011, Romney announced in a video taped outdoors at the University of New Hampshire that he had formed an exploratory committee for a run for the Republican presidential nomination. A Quinnipiac University political science professor stated, "We all knew that he was going to run. He's really been running for president ever since the day after the 2008 election."

Romney stood to possibly gain from the Republican electorate's tendency to nominate candidates who had previously run for president and appeared to be "next in line" to be chosen. Perhaps his greatest hurdle in gaining the Republican nomination was party opposition to the Massachusetts health care reform law that he had signed five years earlier. The early stages of the race found Romney as the apparent front-runner in a weak field, especially in terms of fundraising prowess and organization. As many potential Republican candidates decided not to run (including Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and Mitch Daniels), Republican party figures searched for plausible alternatives to Romney.

On June 2, 2011, Romney formally announced the start of his campaign. Speaking on a farm in Stratham, New Hampshire, he focused on the economy and criticized President Obama's handling of it. He said, "In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it – because I have lived it."

Romney raised $56 million during 2011, far more than any of his Republican opponents, and refrained from spending any of his own money on his campaign. He initially ran a low-key, low-profile campaign. Michele Bachmann staged a brief surge, then by September 2011, Romney's chief rival in polls was a recent entrant, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and the two exchanged sharp criticisms of each other during a series of debates among the Republican candidates. The October 2011 decisions of Chris Christie and Sarah Palin not to run finally settled the field. Perry faded due to poor performances in those debates, while Herman Cain staged a long-shot surge until allegations of sexual misconduct derailed him.

Romney continued to seek support from a wary Republican electorate, with his poll numbers relatively flat and at a historically low level for a Republican frontrunner at this point in the race. After the charges of flip flopping that marked his 2008 campaign began to accumulate again, Romney declared in November 2011 that "I've been as consistent as human beings can be." In the final month before voting began, Newt Gingrich enjoyed a major surge, taking a solid lead in national polls and in most of the early caucus and primary states before settling back into parity or worse with Romney following a barrage of negative ads from Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC.

In the initial 2012 Iowa caucuses of January 3, Romney was announced as the victor on election night with 25 percent of the vote, edging out a late-surging Rick Santorum by eight votes (with an also-surging Ron Paul finishing third), but sixteen days later, Santorum was certified as the winner by a 34-vote margin. Romney decidedly won the New Hampshire primary the following week with a total of 39 percent; Paul finished second and Jon Huntsman third.

In the run-up to the South Carolina Republican primary, Gingrich launched attack ads criticizing Romney for causing job losses while at Bain Capital, Perry referred to Romney's role there as "vulture capitalism", and Sarah Palin questioned whether Romney could prove his claim that 100,000 jobs were created during that time. Many conservatives rallied in defense of Romney and the implied criticism of free-market capitalism. However, during two debates, Romney fumbled questions about releasing his income tax returns, while Gingrich surged with audience-rousing attacks on the debate moderators. Combined with the delayed loss in Iowa, Romney's admitted bad week resulted in a previous double-digit lead in polls – and chance to end the race early – turning into a 13-point loss to Gingrich in the January 21 primary and a decision afterward to release his returns quickly. The race turned to the Florida Republican primary, where in debates, appearances, and advertisements, Romney unleashed a concerted, unrelenting attack on Gingrich's past record and associations and current electability. Romney enjoyed a big spending advantage from both his campaign and his aligned Super PAC, and after a record-breaking rate of negative ads from both sides, Romney won Florida on January 31, gaining 46 percent of the vote to Gingrich's 32 percent.

February saw a number of caucuses and primaries; Santorum won three in a single night early in the month, propelling him into a lead in national and some state polls and positioning him as Romney's main rival, while Romney won the other five, including a closely fought contest in his home state of Michigan at the end of the month. In the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses of March 6, Romney won six of ten contests, including a narrow victory in Ohio over a greatly-outspent Santorum, and despite not landing a knockout blow to end the race, still held a more than two-to-one edge over Santorum in total delegates. Romney maintained that delegate margin through subsequent contests, and Santorum stopped his campaign on April 10. Following a sweep of five more contests on April 24, the Republican National Committee declared Romney to be the party's presumptive nominee and put its resources behind him.

Political positions and public perceptions

For much of his business career, Romney did not take public political positions. He followed national politics avidly in college, and the circumstances of his father's presidential campaign loss would grate on him for decades, but his early philosophical influences were often non-political, such as in his missionary days when he read and absorbed Napoleon Hill's pioneering self-help tome ''Think and Grow Rich'' and encouraged his colleagues to do the same. Until his 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, he was registered as an Independent. In the 1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries, he had voted for the Democratic former senator from the state, Paul Tsongas.

In the 1994 Senate race, Romney aligned himself with Republican Massachusetts Governor William Weld, saying "I think Bill Weld's fiscal conservatism, his focus on creating jobs and employment and his efforts to fight discrimination and assure civil rights for all is a model that I identify with and aspire to." As a gubernatorial candidate in 2002, and then initially as Governor of Massachusetts, Romney again generally operated in the mold established by Weld and followed by Weld's two other Republican successors, Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift: restrain spending and taxing, be tolerant or permissive on social issues, protect the environment, be tough on crime, try to appear post-partisan.

Later during his time as governor, Romney's position on abortion changed in conjunction with a similar change of position on stem cell research.|group="nb"}} Also during that time, his position or choice of emphasis on some aspects of gay rights,|group="nb"}} and some aspects of abstinence-only sex education,|group="nb"}} evolved in a more conservative direction. The change in 2005 on abortion was the result of what Romney described as an epiphany experienced while investigating stem cell research issues. He later said, "Changing my position was in line with an ongoing struggle that anyone has that is opposed to abortion personally, vehemently opposed to it, and yet says, 'Well, I'll let other people make that decision.' And you say to yourself, but if you believe that you're taking innocent life, it's hard to justify letting other people make that decision."

This increased alignment with traditional conservatives on social issues coincided with Romney's becoming a candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination for President. He displayed a new-found admiration for the National Rifle Association and portrayed himself as a lifelong hunter. In April 2007, he said, "I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," but then said he had only gone hunting twice and did not own guns, and "I'm not a big-game hunter. I've made that very clear. I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times."|group="nb"}} He downplayed the Massachusetts health care law, became a convert on signing an anti-tax pledge, and backed away from further closings of corporate tax loopholes. He also displayed aggressiveness on foreign policy matters such as wanting to double the number of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Skeptics, including some Republicans, charged Romney with opportunism and having a lack of core principles. The fervor with which Romney adopted his new stances and attitudes contributed to the perception of inauthenticity which hampered that campaign.

While there have been many biographical parallels between the lives of George Romney and his son Mitt, 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.|group="nb"}} one particular difference is that while George was willing to defy political trends, Mitt has been much more willing to adapt to them. Mitt Romney has said that learning from experience and changing views accordingly is a virtue, and that, "If you're looking for someone who's never changed any positions on any policies, then I'm not your guy." Romney responded to criticisms of ideological pandering with the explanation that "The older I get, the smarter Ronald Reagan gets."

Journalist and author Daniel Gross sees Romney as approaching politics in the same terms as a business competing in markets, in that successful executives do not hold firm to public stances over long periods of time, but rather constantly devise new strategies and plans to deal with new geographical regions and ever-changing market conditions. Political profiler Ryan Lizza sees the same question regarding whether Romney's business skills can be adapted to politics, saying that "while giving customers exactly what they want may be normal in the corporate world, it can be costly in politics". Writer Robert Draper holds a somewhat similar perspective: "The Romney curse was this: His strength lay in his adaptability. In governance, this was a virtue; in a political race, it was an invitation to be called a phony." Writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells sees Romney as a detached problem solver rather than one who approaches political issues from a humanistic or philosophical perspective. Journalist Neil Swidey views Romney as a political and cultural enigma, "the product of two of the most mysterious and least understood subcultures in the country: the Mormon Church and private-equity finance," and believes that has led to the continued interest in a 1983 episode in which Romney went on a long trip with the family dog on the roof of his car. Since becoming public in 2007, the story has been the source of complaints from animal lovers, a point of psychological study regarding Romney's emotion-free crisis management, an obsession to ''New York Times'' columnist Gail Collins, and the occasional target of news stories, talk show hosts and political rivals.|group="nb"}} Political writer Joe Klein sees Romney as actually more conservative on social issues than he portrayed himself during his Massachusetts campaigns and less conservative on other issues than his presidential campaigns have represented, and concludes that Romney "has always campaigned as something he probably is not."

Immediately following the March 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Romney attacked the landmark legislation as "an unconscionable abuse of power" and said the act should be repealed. The hostile attention it held among Republicans created a potential problem for the former governor, since the new federal law was in many ways similar to the Massachusetts health care reform passed during Romney's term; as one Associated Press article stated, "Obamacare ... looks a lot like Romneycare." While acknowledging that his plan was not perfect and still was a work in progress, Romney did not back away from it, and has consistently defended the state-level health insurance mandate that underpins it. He has focused on its having had bipartisan support in the state legislature, while the Obama plan received no Republican support at all in Congress, and upon it being the right answer to Massachusetts' specific problems at the time. While Romney has not explicitly argued for a federally imposed mandate, and as of 2010 explicitly opposes one, during his 1994 Senate campaign he indicated he would vote for an overall health insurance proposal that contained one, and he suggested during his time as governor and during his 2008 presidential campaign that the Massachusetts plan was a model for the nation and that, over time, mandate plans might be adopted by most or all of the nation.

Throughout his business, Olympics, and political career, Romney's instinct has been to apply the "Bain way" towards problems. Romney has said, "There were two key things I learned at Bain. One was a series of concepts for approaching tough problems and a problem-solving methodology; the other was an enormous respect for data, analysis, and debate." He has written, "There are answers in numbers – gold in numbers. Pile the budgets on my desk and let me wallow." Romney believes the Bain approach is not only effective in the business realm but also in running for office and, once there, in solving political conundrums such as proper Pentagon spending levels and the future of Social Security. Former Bain and Olympics colleague Fraser Bullock has said of Romney, "He's not an ideologue. He makes decisions based on researching data more deeply than anyone I know." Romney's technocratic instincts have thus always been with him; in his public appearances during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign he sometimes gave PowerPoint presentations rather than conventional speeches. Upon taking office he became, in the words of ''The Boston Globe'', "the state's first self-styled CEO governor". During his 2008 presidential campaign, he was constantly asking for data, analysis, and opposing arguments, and has been viewed as a potential "CEO president".

Awards and honors

Romney has received four honorary doctorates: an Honorary Doctor of Business from the University of Utah in 1999, an Honorary Doctor of Law from Bentley College in 2002, an Honorary Doctor of Public Administration from Suffolk University Law School in 2004, and an Honorary Doctor of Public Service from Hillsdale College in 2007.

''People'' magazine included Romney in its 50 Most Beautiful People list for 2002. In 2004, Romney received the inaugural Truce Ideal Award for his role in the 2002 Winter Olympics. In 2006, he received the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 2008, he shared with his wife Ann the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the presidential campaign. In 2012, Romney was named to the ''Time'' 100.

Writings

See also

List of JD/MBAs

List of richest American politicians

Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012

Republican Party presidential debates, 2012

Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012

Republican Party vice presidential candidates, 2012

Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

;Official

MittRomney.com

;Other

Campaign Contributions made by Mitt Romney at NewsMeat

Press releases as Governor of Massachusetts 2003–2007

|- |- |- |- |- |- |-

Category:1947 births Category:2002 Winter Olympics Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries Category:American chief executives Category:American investors Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American management consultants Category:American Mormon missionaries Category:American people of Canadian descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American political writers Category:Article Feedback 5 Additional Articles Category:Bain Capital Category:Bishops of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Boston Consulting Group people Category:Brigham Young University alumni Category:Businesspeople from Massachusetts Category:Businesspeople from Michigan Category:Cranbrook Educational Community alumni Romney, George W. Category:Governors of Massachusetts Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Living people Category:Massachusetts Republicans Category:Michigan Republicans Mitt Romney Category:Mormon missionaries in France Category:People from Belmont, Massachusetts Category:People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Pratt–Romney family Category:Presidents of Organising Committees for the Olympic Games Category:Private equity and venture capital investors Category:Stake presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Stanford University alumni Category:United States presidential candidates, 2008 Category:United States presidential candidates, 2012 Category:Writers from Massachusetts

ar:ميت رومني az:Mit Romni be:Уілард Міт Ромні bcl:Mitt Romney bg:Мит Ромни br:Mitt Romney ca:Mitt Romney cs:Mitt Romney cy:Mitt Romney da:Mitt Romney pdc:Mitt Romney de:Mitt Romney et:Mitt Romney es:Mitt Romney eo:Mitt Romney fa:میت رامنی fo:Mitt Romney fr:Mitt Romney ga:Mitt Romney ko:밋 롬니 hi:मिट रॉमनी hsb:Mitt Romney hr:Mitt Romney is:Mitt Romney it:Mitt Romney he:מיט רומני ka:მიტ რომნი la:Mitt Romney lv:Mits Romnijs hu:Mitt Romney ml:മിറ്റ് റോംനി mr:मिट रॉम्नी nl:Mitt Romney ja:ミット・ロムニー no:Mitt Romney pl:Mitt Romney pt:Mitt Romney ro:Mitt Romney ru:Ромни, Митт simple:Mitt Romney sr:Мит Ромни sh:Mitt Romney fi:Mitt Romney sv:Mitt Romney th:มิตต์ รอมนีย์ tr:Mitt Romney uk:Мітт Ромні vi:Mitt Romney yi:מיט ראמני zh:米特·羅姆尼