•  Campaign Videos (August 2012) « Romney for President

[Music] Mitt Romney: I'm a guy who believes in the vision of the Founding Fathers.  I believe this is the land of opportunity.  I believe if we restore the principle of hope and opportunity and give everyone a fair chance, you're going to see this country come roaring back.

[Olympics scenes] Sound: cheers, fireworks, skates on ice, chants "U.S.A., U.S.A.," more fireworks

Ann Romney: You can never predict what kind of tough decisions are going to come in front of a president's desk.  And if you really want to know how a person will operate, look at how they've lived their life.

Dan Jansen, Olympic Speed Skater: They were asking me about what's going on with what happened with the scandal and what my opinion is of if we can pull this thing off.  And I said, yeah, it's going to be just fine.  They said, how do you know?  I said, because I just met Mitt Romney.

Mike Eruzione, Olympic Hockey Captain: People were afraid, people were thinking that somthing terrible could happen.  After 9-11, the way we looked at these events changed drastically.  More so than any Olympic games, the world really watching this one.  How was the United States going to respond?  Could they put on an Olympic Games?

Mitt Romney: It was worse than I had expected.  I thought the Salt Lake turnaround was just a public relations turnaround.  Instead it turned out to be a financial turnaround and a governmental turnaround.

Unidentified Male Voiceover: He was not a figurehead.  He was not only running this show, but he was out there speaking to the people and showing them through his words, through his actions, what the Olympics could mean to the United States.

Ann Romney: When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis both of us just dissolved in tears.

Mitt Romney: Probably the toughest time in my life was, was standing there with Ann as we hugged each other and the diagnosis came.

Ann Romney: I was very, very ill.  I don't know if people knew how sick I was.  I was frightened, he was frightened, but I needed him desperately.

Mitt Romney: Look, I'm happy in life as long as I've got my soulmate with me.

Ann Romney: Mitt decided that he was going to honor heroes throughout the country, and that the torch we lighted was going to be all about heroes, and Mitt chose me as his hero. 

My life was in you know in jeopardy, and I was like as vulnerable as a person could be, and I trust Mitt, I trust him with my life.

Mitt Romney: Ah, she's gorgeous.  Absolutely beautiful. 

You know I can't explain love.  I don't know why it happens.  I don't know why it endures the way it does.

You know at the very beginning, I sat with her, chatted with her, put my arm around her, and you know something changed.

Ann Romney: My 16th birthday party was when Mitt and I really became sort of an item.  Mitt helped plan it.  It was just sort of the beginning of our romance.  [In] 1968 he flew into the Detroit airport right before Christmas.  Of course his mother is like had her arms, and he runs right by her and grabs me.

Mitt Romney: On the car ride home from the airport, I turned to Ann and said, I feel like I've never been away.  And she said, I feel the same way.

Ann Romney: So by the time we got home, we got out of the car and we tell everybody, well we're getting married, like next week.  We compromised and waited until March 21st.

[Home movie] Mitt Romney: Sweet baby.  Ann Romney: Sweet baby.

Ann Romney: I could do okay when I had the two. 

Son: My brother and I, Matt, fought a lot. 

Ann Romney: Three not bad.  Four it got, it got to be a little much.

Nat. sound from home movie. ..."Ben.."

Son: Oh my gosh, very rambunctious.

Nat. sound from home movie.  Ann:...I do not want you putting the water on the mud...

Ann Romney: And then with the fifth one, and Craig was my most active child.  He was a handful.

Nat. sound from home movie.  Mitt:...Craigie, hi.  Oh Craig don't squirt me.

Tagg Romney: I remember my mom was always begging for us to be quiet.  Please can I have quiet in this house.

Josh Romney: We could bend a lot of rules and get into a lot of trouble; we could never, ever say anything bad about mom.

Mitt Romney: I travelled a good deal in my early career.  I would call Ann and I could hear the boys in the background, and she might be a little exasperated.  And I said, Ann, don't forget what you're doing is more important that what I'm doing.

Ann Romney: I hate to say it, but often I had more than five sons; I had six sons.

Nat. sound from home movie. Mitt:...How are you doing knucklesnorts.

Unidentified Son (voiceover): He was really playful...

Nat. sound from home movie (kitchen scene).  Son: You know...

Ann Romney: Mitt would walk in the door after work, leave the briefcase at the door.  That was it; [he] never thought about work again until he left in the morning.

Matt Romney: We just felt like we were the most important thing in his life.

Unidentified Son (voiceover): I went to mom if I ever needed money becuase you never went to dad; he was way to cheap.

Unidentified Son: My dad didn't have the right bulb, so he replaced it just with whatever bulb he had.  The problem is it sticks out way too far and blinds you as you cook.  So he just solved that with some tin foil and duct tape.

George Romney: I've been poor.  I've worked from the time I was 12.  I know what poverty is and I've been up through it.

Ann Romney (voiceover): For Mitt, I think he idealized his father.  He really was his hero.

Mitt Romney (mostly voiceover): In the summer my dad used to pack up our family and take us to the great national parks.  It was during those trops that I fell in love with America.

Dad was born in Mexico.  His parents and grand parents had moved to Mexico; they were refugees from a revolution.

I remember Ann asking my dad what was the most meaningful accomplishment of your life.  And without hesitation he said the greatest accomplishment of my life ws having raised you four kids. 

Like me he fell in love young.  Family for my mom and dad was everything. 

My dad worked for his dad.  He was a drywall guy.  Back then they called it lathe-and-plaster.  And he could put nails in his mouth and spit them out pointy end forward.

I grew up watching my dad lead.

George Romney: Look I'm in public life today because I'm concerned America; I'm concerned about what's happening to America.

Mitt Romney: If he felt some way about a particular issue, there was no question in your mind about how he felt.  Friends called him the brick because he was immovable.

He let me tag along in some very unusual settings.

Home movie clip: George Romney: What's the best car on the road?  Mitt Romney: Rambler.

Mitt Romney: I didn't realize that he was giving me an experience that was more helpful from a leadership standpoint than anything I learned in school. 

Mitt Romney (old footage): Staples I think is a good example of where Bain & Company can support the management of an excellent company.

Tom Stemberg, Founder, Staples: What was special about Mitt is he understood what was behind the numbers.  And what's behind the numbers was great people.

Ed Albertian, Former Head of Operations, Staples: Mitt Romney valued every employee.  He made it a point to let us know that every employee was critical to the success of Staples.

Tom Stemberg, Founder, Staples: Why would anybody want to save on envelopes and file folders?  Mitt is a cheap son of a gun, and if he could save 50 cents on paper clips he'd drive a mile to do it.

Ed Albertian, Former Head of Operations, Staples: [inaud.] ... bring jobs back to this country.  If you ask me why?  Because I've seen him do it first hand.

Scott Sperling, Investor: He was dealing with the fundamental problems that companies confront.  He was dealing with them in a way that allowed them to grow, to add jobs, to build factories.

Tom Stemberg, Founder, Staples: Wicked smart.

[exactly 8 minutes]
Romney (clip from speech): When I became governor of Massachusetts I took the skills I'd learned in business and went to look at our state budget.  We were about three billion dollars out of balance.

Jane C. Edmonds, Cabinet Member: I'll never forget the first Cabinet meeting.  The governor asked one of his assistants to bring out a list of campaign promises.  Now there were something like 44 campaign promises.  The governor said by the end of this administration we're going to go right down this check list and keep each and every promise that was made.  And I said, he's different.

Romney (clip from speech): I actually cut spending dollars in Massachusetts, and we balanced our budget and went from a $3 billion budget gap in my first year to [an] over $2 billion rainy day fund.

Unidentified voiceover: When he came into office we were in fiscal crisis; when he came out we were on a much more solid footing.

Ann Romney: His whole life has brought him to this point of being able to have the skills and the experience to be able to tackle something as difficult as this, as turning this country around.

testimonials (all voiceover):
Mitt Romney is in this race I believe not just for himself; he's in it to improve the lives of the American people.

He's an extraordinary chief executive officer.  I know he understands the economy.

He's uniquely qualified to get our economy moving again.

...takes control...

He's not a stuffed shirt guy...

Charismatic.

He is rock solid.

Authentic leader.

His values are so strong.

He's a man of faith.

Extraordinary character.

He cares about the lives of those with voices that are unheard.

An amazing humble man.

I think he has a great deal of pride and love for this country.

He finds a way of turning adversity into opportunity.

He knows he's one of the only guys that can do what it's going to take to turn this country around.

[Fireworks]

TEXT ON SCREEN: "Great moments are born from great opportunity." - Coach Herb Brooks (August 5, 1937 - August 11, 2003)

Mitt Romney: I will devote every waking hour of my energy to getting America strong again.

That's what an American president has to do.

[Chants U.S.A., U.S.A.]

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Notes: The video has seven segments plus an introduction and conclusion: Olympics, Ann Romney's MS, romancing Ann, raising a family, on his father, business career as exemplified by Staples, and his term as governor.  One of the best moments, which brought a lot of laughter from the convention delegates, was the light bulb episode.

Copyright © 2012 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.