Mitt Romney’s speech brought viewers to their feet many times this afternoon at CPAC. It was truly inspirational. Divided into four segments, the video footage of Mitt’s speech is posted below. Included is a short introduction by Senator Scott Brown (he had very kind words to say about Mitt).

Be sure you bookmark this, as it will be neat to come back often and refresh your memory of why this man needs to be the next President of the United States:

Scott Brown Introduces Mitt Romney at CPAC

Mitt Romney’s Speech at CPAC 2/18/2010 (PART 1)

Mitt Romney’s Speech at CPAC 2/18/2010 (PART 2)

Mitt Romney’s Speech at CPAC 2/18/2010 (PART 3)

Governor Romney’s Remarks to CPAC 2010

Feb 18, 2010

Thank you to Jay and to Scott for those generous introductions. Both these men have made real contributions to our nation. It’s good to be back at CPAC. I can’t think of an audience I’d rather be addressing today.

I spent the weekend in Vancouver. As always, the Olympic Games were inspiring. But in case you didn’t hear the late-breaking news, the gold medal in the downhill was taken away from American Lindsey Vonn. It was determined that President Obama is going downhill faster than she is.

I’m not telling you something you don’t know when I say that our conservative movement took a real hit in the 2008 elections. The victors were not exactly gracious in their big win: Media legs were tingling. Time Magazine’s cover pictured the Republican elephant and declared it an endangered species. The new president himself promised change of biblical proportion. And given his filibuster-proof Senate and lopsided House, he had everything he needed to deliver it.

They won, we lost. But you know, you learn a lot about people when you see how they react to losing. We didn’t serve up excuses or blame our fellow citizens. Instead, we listened to the American people, we sharpened our thinking and our arguments, we spoke with greater persuasiveness, we took our message to more journals and airwaves, and in the American tradition, some even brought attention to our cause with rallies and Tea parties.

I know that most of you have watched intently as the conservative comeback began in Virginia and exploded onto the scene in New Jersey. But as a Massachusetts man, who, like my fellow Bay-staters, has over the years, been understandably regarded somewhat suspiciously in gatherings like this, let me take just a moment to exalt in a Scott Brown victory!

For that victory that stopped Obama–care and turned back the Reid-Pelosi liberal tide, we have something to that you’d never think you’d hear at CPAC, “Thank you Massachusetts!”

2009 was the President’s turn to suffer losses, and not just at the ballot box, but also in bill after bill in Congress, and most importantly, in his failure to reignite the economy. In how he has responded to these defeats, too, we have learned a great about him and about his team.

He began by claiming that he had not failed at all. Remember the B+ grade he gave himself for his first year? Tell that to the 4 million Americans who lost their jobs last year, and to the millions more who stopped looking. Explain that to the world’s financial markets who gaped at trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. Square that with the absence of any meaningful sanctions against Iran even as it funds terror and races to become a nuclear nation. President Obama’s self-proclaimed B+ will go down in history as the biggest exaggeration since Al Gore’s invention of the internet!

Unable to convince us that his failure was a success, he turned to the second dodge of losing teams: try to pin the blame on someone else. Did you see his State of the Union address? First, he took on the one group in the room that was restrained from responding—the Supreme Court. The President found it inexplicable that the first amendment right of free speech should be guaranteed not just to labor union corporations and media corporations, but equally to all corporations, big and small. When it was all over, I think most Americans felt as I did: his noisy critique and bombast did not register as clear and convincingly as Justice Alito’s silent lips forming these words: “Not true!”

Next he blamed the Republicans in the room, condescending to lecture them on the workings of the budget process, a process many of them had in fact mastered while he was still at Harvard Law School. He blamed Republicans for the gridlock that has blocked his favorite legislation; but he knows as well as we do that he did not need one single solitary Republican vote in either house to pass his legislation. It was Democrats who blocked him, Democrats who said “no” to his liberal agenda after they had been home to their districts and heard from the American people. As Everett Dirksen used to say, “When they felt the heat, they saw the light.” God bless every American who said no!

Of course, the President accuses us of being the party of “no.” It’s as if he thinks that saying “no” is by definition a bad thing. In fact, it is right and praiseworthy to say no to bad things. It is right to say no to cap and trade, no to card check, no to government healthcare, and no to higher taxes. My party should never be a rubber stamp for rubber check spending.

But before we move away from this “no” epithet the Democrats are fond of applying to us, let’s ask the Obama folks why they say “no” --no to a balanced budget, no to reforming entitlements, no to malpractice reform, no to missile defense In Eastern Europe, no to prosecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a military tribunal, and no to tax cuts that create new jobs. You see, we conservatives don’t have a corner on saying no; we’re just the ones who say it when that’s the right thing to do!

And that leads us to who he has most recently charged with culpability for his failures: the American people. It seems that we have failed to understand his wise plans for us. If he just slows down, he reasons, and makes a concerted effort to explain Obama-care in a way even we can understand, if we just listen better, then we will get it.

Actually, Americans have been listening quite attentively. And they have been watching. When he barred CSPAN from covering the healthcare deliberations, they saw President Obama break his promise of transparency. When the Democrat leadership was empowered to bribe Nebraska’s Senator Nelson, they saw President Obama break his promise of a new kind of politics in Washington. And when he cut a special and certainly unconstitutional healthcare deal with the unions, they saw him not just break his promise, they saw the most blatant and reprehensible manifestation of political payoff in modern memory. No, Mr. President, the American people didn’t hear and see too little, they saw too much!

Here again, with all due respect, President Obama fails to understand America. He said: “With all the lobbying and horse-trading, the process left most Americans wondering, ‘What’s in it for me?’” That’s not at all what they were asking. They were asking: “What’s in it for America?”

America will not endure government run healthcare, a new and expansive entitlement, an inexplicable and surely vanishing cut in Medicare and an even greater burden of taxes. Americans said no because Obama-care is bad care for America!

When it comes to shifting responsibility for failure, however, no one is a more frequent object of President Obama’s reproach than President Bush. It’s wearing so thin that even the late night shows make fun of it. I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly—he pulled us from a deepening recession following the attack of 9-11, he overcame teachers unions to test school children and evaluate schools, he took down the Taliban, waged a war against the jihadists and was not afraid to call it what it is—a war, and he kept us safe. I respect his silence even in the face of the assaults on his record that come from this administration. But at the same time, I also respect the loyalty and indefatigable defense of truth that comes from our “I don’t give a damn” Vice President Dick Cheney!

I’m afraid that after all the finger pointing is finished, it has become clear who is responsible for President Obama’s lost year, the 10% unemployment year—President Obama and his fellow Democrats. So when it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys.

There’s a good deal of conjecture about the cause of President Obama’s failures. As he frequently reminds us, he assumed the presidency at a difficult time. That’s the reason we argued during the campaign that these were not the times for on the job training. Had he or his advisors spent even a few years in the real economy, they would have learned that the number one cause of failure in the private sector is lack of focus, and that the first rule of turning around any troubled enterprise is focus, focus, focus. And so, when he assumed the presidency, his energy should have been focused on fixing the economy and creating jobs, and to succeeding in our fight against radical violent jihad in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, he applied his time and political capital to his ill-conceived healthcare takeover and to building his personal popularity in foreign countries. He failed to focus, and so he failed.

But there was an even bigger problem than lack of focus. Ronald Reagan used to say this about liberals: “It’s not that they’re ignorant, it’s that what they know is wrong.” Too often, when it came to what President Obama knew, he was wrong.

He correctly acknowledged that the government doesn’t create jobs, that only the private sector can do that. He said that the government can create the conditions, the environment, which leads the private sector to add employment. But consider not what he said, but what he did last year, and ask whether it helped or hurt the environment for investment, growth, and new jobs.

Announcing 2011 tax increases for individuals and businesses and for capital gains, hurt.

Passing cap and trade, hurt.

Giving trial lawyers a free pass, hurt.

Proposing card check to eliminate secret ballots in union elections, hurt.

Holding on to GM stock and insisting on calling the shots there, hurt.

Making a grab for healthcare, almost 1/5th of our economy, hurt.

Budgeting government deficits in the trillions, hurt.

And scapegoating and demonizing businesspeople, hurt.

President Obama instituted the most anti-growth, anti-investment, anti-jobs measures we’ve seen in our lifetimes. He called his agenda ambitious. I call it reckless. He scared employers, so jobs were scarce. His nearly trillion dollar stimulus created not one net new job in the private sector, but it saved and grew jobs in the government sector-- the one place we should have shed jobs. And even today, because he has been unwilling or unable to define the road ahead, uncertainty and lack of predictability permeate the private economy, and prolongs its stall. America is not better off than it was 1.8 trillion dollars ago.

Will the economy and unemployment recover? Of course. Thanks to a vibrant and innovative citizenry, they always do. But this president will not deserve the credit he will undoubtedly claim. He has prolonged the recession, expanded the pain of unemployment, and added to the burden of debt we will leave future generations. President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their team have failed the American people, and that is why their majority will be out the door. Isn’t it fitting that so many of those who have contempt for the private sector will soon find themselves back in it?

The people of America are looking to conservatives for leadership, and we must not fail them.

Conservatism has had from its inception a vigorously positive, intellectually rigorous agenda. That agenda should have three pillars: strengthen the economy, strengthen our security, and strengthen our families.

We will strengthen the economy by simplifying and lowering taxes, by replacing outmoded regulation with modern, dynamic regulation, by opening markets to American goods, by strengthening our currency and our capital markets, and by investing in research and basic science. Instead of leading the world in how much we borrow, we will make sure that we lead the world in how much we build and create and invest.

We will strengthen our security by building missile defense, restoring our military might, and standing-by and strengthening our intelligence officers. And conservatives believe in providing constitutional rights to our citizens, not to enemy combatants like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed!

On our watch, the conversation with a would-be suicide bomber will not begin with the words, “You have the right to remain silent!”

Our conservative agenda strengthens our families in part by putting our schools on track to be the best in the world. Because great schools start with great teachers, we will insist on hiring teachers from the top third of college graduates, and we will give better teachers better pay. School accountability, school choice and cyber schools will be priorities. We will put parents and teachers back in charge of education, not the fat cat CEO’s of the teachers unions!

Strong families will have excellent healthcare. Getting healthcare coverage for the uninsured should be accomplished at the state level, not a one-size-fits all Pelosi plan. The right way to rein-in healthcare cost is not by making it more like the Post Office, it’s by making it more like a consumer-driven market. The answer for healthcare is market incentives not healthcare by a Godzilla-size government bureaucracy!

When it comes to our role in the world, our conservative agenda hews to the principles that have defined our nation’s foreign policy for over six decades: we will promote and defend the American ideals of political freedom, free enterprise, and human rights. We will stand with our allies, and confront those who threaten peace and destroy liberty.

There’s much more on our positive, intellectually rigorous conservative agenda. Not all of it is popular. But the American people have shown that they are ready for truth to trump hope. The truth is that government is not the solution to all our problems.

This year, I have taken the time to write a book that tells the truth about the challenges our nation faces, and about the conservative solutions needed to overcome them. I have titled it: No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. I’ve set up a booth outside so that you can buy a few hundred copies each. Well, maybe one or two.
Sometimes I wonder whether Washington’s liberal politicians understand the greatness of America. Let me explain why I say that.

At Christmas-time, I was in Wal-Mart to buy some toys for my grandkids. As I waited in the check-out line, I took a good look around the store. I thought to myself of the impact Sam Walton had on his company. Sam Walton was all about good value on everything the customer might want. And so is Wal-Mart: rock bottom prices and tens of thousands of items.

The impact that founders like Sam Walton have on their enterprises is actually quite remarkable. In many ways, Microsoft is a reflection of Bill Gates, just as Apple is of Steve Jobs. Disneyland is a permanent tribute to Walt Disney himself—imaginative and whimsical. Virgin Airlines is as irreverent and edgy as its founder. As you look around you, you see that people shape enterprises, sometimes for many years even after they are gone.

People shape businesses.

People shape countries.

America reflects the values of the people who first landed here, those who founded the nation, those who won our freedom, and those who made America the leader of the world.

America was discovered and settled by pioneers. Later, the founders launched an entirely new concept of nation, one where the people would be sovereign, not the king, not the state. And this would apply not just to government, but also to the American economy: the individual would pursue his or her happiness in freedom, independent from government dictate. Every American was free to be an inventor, an innovator, a founder. America became the land of opportunity and a nation of pioneers.

We attracted people of pioneering spirit from around the world. They came here for freedom and opportunity, knowing that the cost was incredibly high: leaving behind family and the familiar, learning a new language, often living at first in poverty, sometimes facing prejudice, working long and hard hours.

All of these pioneers built a nation of incomparable prosperity and unrivaled security.

After its founding, our national economy grew thanks to more pioneers—people like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, William Procter and Robert Wood Johnson, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard and Thomas Watson. These are names we know—but the less well known are just as vital American innovators, and they number in the millions.

That American pioneering spirit is what propelled us to master the industrial age just as today we marshal the information age.

This course for America, chosen by the founders, has been settled for over 200 years. Ours is the creed of the pioneers, the innovators, the strivers who expect no guarantee of success, but ask only to live and work in freedom. This creed is under assault in Washington today. Liberals are convinced that government knows better than the people how to run our businesses, how to choose winning technologies, how to manage healthcare, how to grow an economy, and how to order our very lives. They want to gain through government takeover what they could never achieve in the competitive economy—power and control over the people of America. If these liberal neo-monarchists succeed, they will kill the very spirit that has built the nation—the innovating, inventing, creating, independent current that runs from coast to coast.

This is the liberal agenda for government. It does not encourage pioneers, inventors and investors—it suffocates them.
In a world where others have lost their liberty by trading it away for the false promises of the state, we choose to hold to our founding principles. We will stop these power-seekers where they stand. We will keep America, America, by retaining its character as the land of opportunity. We welcome the entrepreneur, the inventor, the innovator. We will insist on greatness from every one of our citizens, and rather than apologizing for who we are or for what we have accomplished, we will celebrate our nation’s strength and goodness. American patriots have defeated tyrants, liberated the oppressed, and rescued the afflicted. America’s model of innovation, capitalism and free enterprise has lifted literally billons of the world’s people out of poverty. America has been a force for good like no other in this world, and for that we make no apology.

Jane Taber from Globe and Mail reports:

Republican politician Mitt Romney was physically threatened by a violent passenger on an Air Canada flight leaving Vancouver this morning.

Mr. Romney, who has been in Vancouver since Friday for the Olympic Winter Games, did not respond to the attack. Instead, he allowed the airline crew to deal with the incident, according to his spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.
Mr. Romney, 62, and his wife, Ann, were sitting in Row 15 of the economy section of the Embrarer 190 airplane, waiting for the plane to take off when the incident happened.

The man sitting in front of Mr. Romney’s wife dropped his seat back and when Mr. Romney asked him to move it upright for takeoff, the man became “physically violent.” Another report said that the man tried to strike Mr. Romney.

“Gov. Romney did not retaliate,” said Mr. Fehrnstrom.
Mr. Romney was not injured. The pilot returned to the gate and the passenger and his bags were removed by the RCMP.

Crazy news, isn’t it? …What if the perpetrator had made contact? One thing for sure, Romney would have all of us here at MRC at his back!

On a different note, I’m glad Romney is learning to dodge these low blows; I have a feeling the left is going to come out swinging the closer we get to election season.

~Aaron G.

Addendum by Ross:
A video news report with additional details can be seen at My Fox Phoenix

Now it seems the man lowered his seat into Ann Romney right before takeoff, so Mitt spoke up to protect Ann. We’ll continue to update this post as more information becomes available.

UPDATE #2: Another news video with commentary can be found here.

UPDATE #3: Mitt Romney won’t press charges

UPDATE #4: Mitt’s assailant reveals himself? I might not believe his side of the story, but it is humorous never-the-less. President Obama better beware of Mitt’s Vulcan grip…haha

Addendum by Nate: Kevin Madden, a Team Romney veteran, was asked about the incident and gave this response:

The governor is a very polite guy; he’s not one whose very prone to emotional outbursts or anything. But there’s one thing I know about Gov. Romney too is, you don’t mess with Ann,” Madden said. “But I can guarantee — I bet you not one hair got out of place during it.

One of the first reviews of Mitt Romney’s new book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness came out yesterday from a fellow named David S. Bernstein from The Boston Phoenix. As it was (and still is) one of the only reviews of Mitt’s newest publication to hit the web, I found it to be quite insightful.

That said, the analytical tone Bernstein uses is rather tendentious and the picture he attempts to paint for Mitt’s future, especially with regards to the conservative south, is as abstract as a Picasso:

A critique of Bernstien’s misleading review and a more accurate synopsis of Mitt Romney’s future involvement in the South is provided by Mathew Continetti in his piece: Romney and the South:

[Bernstein] makes the questionable claim that “Romney is going to try to win without” Christian conservatives. And that means “skipping the South.”

Really? Religious conservatives make up a significant portion of the GOP electorate; winning the nomination without them is clearly a next-to-impossible task (McCain squeaked through because at first the religious conservatives split their vote among the various candidates). The South, moreover, is the geographic base of the Republican party — could a politician win the nomination with the Northeast, Midwest, Great Lakes, and Mountain States? Maybe, but he or she would have to sweep all those regions, which seems unlikely.

Romney is no dope; he understands how important the South is both in the Republican primary and in the general election.

Bernstein bases his claim on two pieces of evidence: (a) “Romney’s PAC has started ignoring southern pols” and (b) “most revealing is Romney’s decision not to attend this year’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) in April in New Orleans.”

Let’s look at these in reverse order. A spokesman for Romney’s Free and Strong America political action committee tells me the governor isn’t attending the SRLC because of a scheduling conflict. “The reason Mitt Romney is not attending the SRLC is because of conflicts with his book tour,” says Eric Fehrnstrom. “The book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, comes out March 2 and he’s on the road promoting it the entire month of March and half of April. During the SRLC, he’ll be in Philadelphia (World Affairs Council speech), New Hampshire (St. Anselm’s Institute of Politics speech and remarks to Politics and Eggs breakfast), Boston (Ford Hall Forum speech) and Minneapolis (book signing, Freedom Foundation speech).”

Nor does missing one conference signify rejection of an entire constituency. Sarah Palin made a highly publicized decision to skip next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Does that mean she thinks she can win the nomination without conservative support? Hardly. The same rule applies to Romney.

Despite Bernstein’s assertion to the contrary, Romney seems also to be paying attention to “Southern pols.” In 2009 he campaigned and fundraised for South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, the Georgia House Republican Caucus, and the Duval County, Florida, GOP. This month, he’s scheduled to appear at a joint fundraiser for Georgia congressmen Westmoreland, Gingrey, and Price, and another for Florida Republican Rep. Connie Mack. Romney’s book tour (the full schedule hasn’t been released) will also take him through a variety of Southern locales.

Since losing the 2008 primary to John McCain, Romney has been expanding his political network. That expansion has not been limited to a particular area. Listen to him and his advisers: Romney will compete in the South.

Will southern Republicans vote for him? Now, that’s an entirely different question…

Does this group have a web presence yet?

~Aaron G.

UPDATE from Ross: 2012 Watch – Romney and the South

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Great news! Hot off the press from National Journal: Romney will head to South Dakota this month to raise funds for Senator John Thune, who is up for reelection later this year. It’s great to see Mitt uniting with other respected conservatives in an effort to win our country back from the mindless Democrats.

Mitt Romney to Fundraise for John Thune

By Erin McPike
Get out the long lenses in South Dakota: Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is making one of his first high-profile fundraising stops of the 2010 midterm cycle later this month for none other than Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

Romney will join Thune for a fundraiser to benefit the senator’s re-election bid at the Holiday Inn City Centre in Sioux Falls, SD, on Feb. 19, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by National Journal. The suggested contribution is just $100.

Romney and Thune met several years ago in the Capitol and have seen each other at a couple of social functions since then, but they have never made a joint appearance. Sioux Falls and Sioux City, Iowa, a conservative bastion in the first-in-the-nation pres. caucus state, share a media market, so photos of the once and likely future pres. hopeful and a possible rival — or ticket-mate — will hit voters in the caucus state.

“This has 2012 written all over it. Two high-profile Republicans in the same place — one who has already run for president and one who is being encouraged to do so — to have them together makes for quite a photo-op,” said one veteran GOP strategist.

The rest of Romney’s itinerary has yet to be determined, but an IA GOP strategist said he doubted Romney would drop down to the Hawkeye State since he is scheduled to be there for his book tour in March.
“But to have two superstars like that together, people will pay attention. It wouldn’t be unheard of for the two of them to do a media avail,” the operative said, since the media market reaches a wide swath of northern Iowa.

As for Thune, with $6M in his war chest and no Dem challengers on the horizon ahead of the Mar. 30 filing deadline, why the early, splashy fundraiser? As Thune campaign manager Justin Brasell put it, “Sen. Thune has been through 2 grueling and very expensive Senate races, and if there is one lesson he took away from those contests it’s that you can never be too prepared.”

Click to Purchase Tickets to This Event!

The Hinckley Institute of Politics

is proud to announce that it will host a lecture

by Mitt Romney

Former President and CEO of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee, Governor of Massachusetts, GOP Presidential candidate, and author of Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games, in conjunction with the March release of his newest book

No Apology: The Case for American Greatness

Governor Romney’s address is set for
Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 7:00 pm, at the
Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City.

This event will be the only opportunity in Utah to hear from Governor Romney as part of the No Apology book tour.

All ticket prices include a signed first edition hard cover book.
(retail price $25.99)

For more info on ticket pricing and seating, go to MittRomneyUtah.com

Tour dates and reviews on Mitt Romney’s new book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness are continually updated at this link: http://bit.ly/RomneyBook

Click for Tour Info

In a recent email to supporters, Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC has released exclusive audio of Governor Mitt Romney reading from his newest, soon-to-be-released book – No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.

We wanted you to be the first to hear this clip of Governor Romney reading a selection from his new book “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness” courtesy of the book’s publisher, St. Martin’s Press.

The book comes out one month from today, be sure to pre-order your copy today! Also, to stay updated on Mitt Romney’s book tour and media appearances, you can go to MRC’s No Apology page and check out the latest news. Tour dates updated as they are announced.

Here is a brief review of what you can expect from No Apology:

On his first presidential visit to address the European nations, President Obama felt it necessary to apologize for America’s international power. He repeated that apology when visiting Latin America, and again to Muslims worldwide in an interview broadcast on Al-Arabiya television.

In No Apology, Mitt Romney asserts that American strength is essential—not just for our own well-being, but for the world’s. Governments such as China and a newly-robust Russia threaten to overtake us on many fronts, and Islam continues its dangerous rise. Drawing on history for lessons on how great powers collapse, Romney shows how and why our national advantages have eroded. From the long-term decline of our manufacturing base, our laggard educational system that has left us without enough engineers, scientists, and other skilled professionals, our corrupted financial practices that led to the current crisis, and the crushing impact of entitlements on our future obligations, America is in debt, overtaxed, and unprepared for the challenges it must face.

We need renewal: fresh ideas to cut through complicated problems and restore our strength. Creative and bold, Romney proposes simple solutions to rebuild industry, create good jobs, reduce out of control spending on entitlements and healthcare, dramatically improve education, and restore a military battered by eight years of war. Most important, he calls for a new commitment to citizenship, a common cause we all share, rather than a laundry list of individual demands. Many of his solutions oppose President Obama’s policies, many also run counter to Republican thinking, but all have one strategic aim: to move America back to political and economic strength.

Personal and dynamically-argued, No Apology is a call to action by a man who cares deeply about America’s history, its promise, and its future.

Mitt & Scott

All of us are still basking in Scott Brown’s historic U.S. Senate victory. It’s still hard to believe that we were able to pull it off against all the odds.

Making a difference in campaigns like Scott’s is why I formed my Free and Strong America PAC.

I especially want to thank a very special friend, whose encouragement from the beginning helped show me the way, and show us the way to victory -- and that is former Governor Mitt Romney. Thank you Governor.

To support candidates like Scott Brown, please consider donating to Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC.


*Reminder: Mitt Romney’s new book comes out in just over a month! Find tour dates and related info here.

In case you missed it: Mitt Romney made an early appearance this AM on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America‘. In the video below, Mitt Romney gives his response to George Stephanopoulos regarding last night’s ‘State of the Union’ speech, delivered by President Obama:

Be sure to catch more of Mitt Romney this afternoon on ‘Your World‘ with Neil Cavuto. More info here.

Romney on FOX News

Look for more of Romney’s reaction to last night’s State of the Obama speech (…I mean, State of the Unions speech). He’s likely to echo what he said earlier today on Good Morning America: “We’ve lost a year”.

UPDATE: Here is the video of Mitt Romney’s interview with Neil Cavuto:

Gov. Mitt Romney

We’ve heard news of Romney keynoting a range of events, from Skiing Industry conventions & Specialty Pharmacy summits to Boy Scout Anniversary dinners; now comes the news that he will also keynote a convention that is ‘catered’ specifically to Owners and Managers of restaurants.

Regarding the conference, I saw one tweeter say, “Seriously? …Mitt Romney?”, perhaps questioning Mitt Romney’s relevance to the restaurant industry. Its evident, however, that Mitt is a respected voice in any industry, with a solid track record of turning around many failed businesses (including Domino’s, the popular pizza giant). Look for keynote spots from Mitt at many more of these types of conferences in the upcoming months.

We’ve read Romney’s resume a million times, but it doesn’t hurt to re-post what they’ve written about Mitt at RestaurantLeadership.com:

Widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as a public servant and in private enterprise, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivers powerful insight on the current and future challenges facing America and the world, and offers compelling solutions on how America can regain its course.

His is a career marked by success. From 1978 to 1984, Governor Romney enjoyed a successful tenure as Vice President at Bain & Company, a leading management consulting firm, helping businesses grow and improve their operations. In 1984, Romney founded and led Bain Capital, now one of the nation’s most successful venture capital and investment firms. He later took a temporary leave of absence to return to Bain & Company as CEO at a time of financial turmoil to lead the turnaround of the organization.

During the run-up to the 2002 Olympic Games, Romney left the private sector to become President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Given the task of turning around an Olympics mired in controversy and saddled with debt , Romney galvanized community spirit, erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized 23,000 volunteers, and oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just months after the September 11th attacks, leading to one of the most successful Olympics in the country’s history.

Romney’s career in public service has been equally distinguished. Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, he presided over a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and sustained economic growth, balancing the state budget without raising taxes, creating tens of thousands of new jobs, and enacting education reform to both reward students and aid failing schools. In 2006, Governor Romney proposed and signed into law private, market-based healthcare reform, ensuring that every Massachusetts citizen receives health insurance—without a government takeover and without raising taxes.

Elected Chairman of the Republican Governors Association during the 2006 election cycle, Romney raised a then-record $27 million for candidates running in state house contests across the country.

Governor Romney has been deeply involved in community and civic affairs, serving in his church and numerous charities including City Year, the Boy Scouts, and the Points of Light Foundation. He was also the Massachusetts Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1994 against Ted Kennedy. He received his B.A., with Highest Honors, from Brigham Young University in 1971. In 1975, he was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Governor Romney and his wife Ann have been married for 40 years and have five sons, five daughters-in-law, and fourteen grandchildren.

Registration info for the event can be found here.