He led the fight to cut spending. He led the fight against tax increases and managed to get a corporate tax cut. He led the fight against gay marraige. He vetoed an embryo farming bill. He vetoed over-the-counter access to the morning after pill abortificient. He led on passing a healthcare bill that loosened regulations and lowered the price on health insurance.
He wasn't able to achieve everything, like eliminate the abortion coverage mandates that pre-existed his administration. Well, welcome to politics. That's how it works. You can never get everything you want.
If Romney really thought he could run on his record, he wouldn’t be flippin’ and floppin’ all over the place, he’d be running on his record. He knows that conservatives panning through his past aren’t going to be content with a occasional gold nugget or two.
Romney knows that his overall record isn’t nearly conservative enough to win Republican primaries without a substantial rewrite of history, which, in the age of the internet, rarely works.