Posted on 03/19/2002 1:45:52 PM PST by mac_truck
BOSTON (AP) -- Acting Gov. Jane Swift dropped out of the governor's race Tuesday rather than fight for the Republican nomination against Mitt Romney, the acclaimed Salt Lake City Olympics chief.
Romney formally entered the race a few hours later. He thanked Swift for her years of work and said he didn't want to take attention away from her on ``her day.''
``I also think it's admirable that she's decided to focus her resources on managing the state during tough economic times and also to help raise her family with all her energy and heart,'' Romney said, surrounded by his wife, Ann, and other family members.
But he was quick to add: ``Lest there be any doubt, I'm in. The bumper stickers are printed, the Web site's going up. The papers are going in today.''
Swift, who has been plagued by personal and political controversies, said she decided not to take on the simultaneous tasks of being a mother of three, running for election and governing during a budget crunch.
``Having said early on the time with family was nonnegotiable, something had to give,'' Swift told reporters. She plans to serve out her term, until the end of the year.
Swift said she had spoken with Romney and pledged her support.
Romney, 55, has been riding a wave of popularity since successfully leading last month's Winter Olympics. A longtime Massachusetts resident who graduated from Brigham Young University in Utah and sent his children there, Romney graduated from Harvard Business School and went to work in Boston at Bain & Co., where he rose to chairman.
The venture capitalist has remained active in Belmont's Mormon community, which constructed a 70,000-square-foot temple in 2000.
There had been growing speculation that he would run for governor.
Last month, after a Republican activist tried unsuccessfully to get Swift a job in the Bush administration to ease her out of the race, she told reporters: ``I guess I should be accustomed to powerful men trying to tell me that they know better than I do what it is I should be doing.''
A Boston Herald poll published Sunday showed Romney, whose only political experience is an unsuccessful challenge to Sen. Edward Kennedy in 1994, leading Swift 75 percent to 12 percent.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said no one from the Bush administration urged her to drop out.
Swift said she would not take a federal job. She said she reached her decision to drop out on Monday.
``There isn't a working parent in America that hasn't faced it -- when the demands of the two tasks that you take on both increase substantially, something has to give,'' she said.
Her voice trembling, Swift added: ``Serving as governor of this great commonwealth has been an honor and a privilege and one for which I'll always be grateful.''
Swift said she did not know what she planned to do next, but told reporters, ``You guys keep telling me I'm young.''
Swift, 37, became Massachusetts' first female chief executive, and the nation's youngest, last April, succeeding Paul Cellucci when he became ambassador to Canada. She is the first U.S. governor to give birth in office when she had twin girls in May. She also has a 3-year-old daughter.
Until recently, Swift had said she was undaunted by a challenge from Romney. The Republican primary is Sept. 17.
The birth of Swift's twins produced a wave of favorable national publicity and a bounce in the polls. But when she returned to work at the end of June, she continued to find herself with little political capital and a Statehouse dominated by Democrats.
That made tough challenges even tougher: a worsening budget crunch, calls for added security measures after Sept. 11 and a controversial decision not to commute the sentence of a convicted child molester.
Earlier, as lieutenant governor, the state Ethics Commission ruled she had created an appearance of impropriety by allowing aides to baby-sit for her older daughter and fined her $1,250. She also used a State Police helicopter to fly home for Thanksgiving to care for her sick daughter.
More recently, she was sued by two members of the Turnpike Authority board whom she fired after they voted to delay toll hikes.
Five Democrats also are running for governor: Senate President Thomas Birmingham, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, former state Sen. Warren Tolman and Steve Grossman, a former national Democratic Committee chairman.
Within moments of his announcement, Romney was challenged on his stand on abortion, a hot-button issue in a state that recently has supported fiscally conservative, socially progressive governors.
He said he would support a woman's right to choose.
I am VERY pro-life, but the odds of the Mass legislature sending him a pro-life bill is about ZERO. So its simply a non-issue in the campaign.
I think Jane Swift showed good republican family values by stepping down and endorsing Mitt Romney, the next governer of Mass. She obviously cares deeply about raising her children. She can also read the handwriting about her chances for winning the primary against a strong opponent. God bless her!
Watch us do it this year in California...
His name is Gerald Amirault and they would have already let him out but he refuses to admit his guilt. You see the former AG Tom Reilly and his DA MArtha Coakley would rather an innocent man rot in jail then admit that they are wrong.<p? One thing I can say about Mass is that they let ACTUAL molesters go with a slap on the wrist and stick normal people behind bars. If Mr. Amirault had been a transvestite then prison would have been deemed "unsafe" for him and he could have went home. Perhaps he should have worn a dress to his trial?
I am seriously voting for the Libertarian Carla Howell.
Even California isn't as electorially liberal as Mass.
No. We went to war. Is that what you want?
Just what sense does it make to have every elective race in the United States, from the Presidency down to town councils, be a confrontation on abortion? To me it doesn't make sense. It's suicidal. It alienates those who would otherwise eventually change their feelings and join us.
Does the fact that a candidate for governor may be "pro-choice" say to you that he would be a total disaster in attempting to govern a state and perhaps bring some other non-liberals along with him?
And just how "pro-choice" is he? You know damned well - or you should know - that if he came out and said that he was pro-life that's the only issue that the citizens of Massachusetts would hear from now until election day. Does that really make sense to you?
I assume that you vote for your mayor/county executive and councilpersons. Do you ask each one of them if they are pro-life? How about the people in your community association?
Now anyone that thinks Romney should run on a pro-life platform in Mass is insane. Comparing Mitt Romney to Robert Reich is also ludicrous.
Also, I would like to know HOW you all know so much about Mitt Romneys politics and records when his only experience in politics was his failed bid to unseat Kennedy for the Senate seat of Mass?
As a matter of fact, I have voted for Carla Howell in the past but in this case I am most definately voting for Romney. State spending has doubled in the last nine years and we need to trim the budget. The best man to try to take on the madmen in the Mass legislature is most assuredly Mitt Romney.
The reason why I said that a lot of people in MAss were pro-dems instead of Libs is because a lot of Dem votes come from Union people who would probably be considered Conservative.
This state has been brainwashed to think that the GOP is ONLY for the rich and there is an awful lot of plain corruption and greed going on up here. Dems like big governments and the larger the government the easier it is for special interests to feed on pork, AKA other peoples money.
Corruption is rampant, the Big Dig is an example. The people that petitioned the FED for cash were not doing it out of civic virtue or Liberalism, they diod it so they could steal money from hardworking citizens elsewhere in the country... well, I guess they ARE liberals! :D
We are a Liberal Elite state but there are a few Conservatives up here. I should know, I am one of the three!
Correction: The Dems run a liberal posing as a conservative in a conservative state!
Thats Nancy Pelosi's prime directive.
I am seriously "thinking of" voting for the Libertarian Carla Howell.
However, that does not change the fact that Romney is a RINO. I have heard the arguments that a Republican is still better than a demonrat, that the Republicans are the best bet because they can get enough votes to win,and it's better to get a candidate that is a least pointing in the right direction.
But....and this is a big but.......... I am so sick and tired of the liberals in this state! I hate to move because I like the area, but I am am beginning to think a 140 mile commute from VT to my job in CT may be a better alternative.
What Massachusetts needs isn't so much a conservative pro-lifer candidate for governor; what it needs is a severe scourging from the hand of God.
I can not believe you live in New England and just made a statement like that. Case in point, the people are trying to put a law on the books that would amend the state constitutionto ban gay marriage. The point I am trying to make is that the PEOPLE would outlaw gay marriage if the LIBERAL courts dont stop them.
In other words, here in Mass we have Liberal elites controlling disproportionate amounts of power and the people being forced into it. The people of MAss WILL ban gay marriage IF allowed to vote on this issue. I hope you all can see where I am coming from.
Vermont is the hippy capital of the damn country. It is the East coasts answer to Seattle.A real Conservative would pick NH.
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