THE
VEEPSTAKES
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTYIMAGES
Romney
announces
Paul Ryan as
his running
mate during a
campaign rally
at the Nauticus
Museum in
Norfolk, Virginia.
HUFFINGTON 08.26.12
It seemed unthinkable that Romney would pick Ryan.
Romney’s career in the private
sector and in government had
largely been marked by attempts
to avoid risk. Romney told Bill
Bain in 1983 that he would not
take the assignment of starting
Bain Capital without a guarantee
that if it failed he could return to
his previous job at Bain & Company. He even required that Bain
promise, in the event of failure,
to “craft a cover story saying that
Romney’s return to Bain & Company was needed because of his
value as a consultant,” according
to the book The Real Romney by
Boston Globe reporters Michael
Kranish and Scott Helman.
Bain told Kranish and Helman
that Romney’s conditions for taking the job at Bain Capital assured
that there would be “no professional or financial risk.”
Once Romney launched Bain
Capital, he focused the private
equity group’s investments on
“mundane corners of the econo-
THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
govern if elected. In fact, he left no
doubt: Entitlement reform would
be front and center. Give me a
mandate to fix this, Romney communicated with his choice, or reject me before I get into office.