BOSTON — Mitt Romney isn't just the former leader of the Salt Lake Olympics anymore. Now he's also the governor-elect of Massachusetts.
The Republican handily beat his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, 50 percent to 45 percent, despite predictions that the race could be one of the closest ever.
Romney, a former venture capitalist who has never held public office, won by promising to "clean up the mess on Beacon Hill" as a political outsider in this Democrat-dominated state that faces a fiscal crisis.
"We took on an entrenched machine, and we won," he said in his acceptance speech. "Tonight we sent a loud and clear message: People come first, not the politicians."
The success of the 2002 Winter Games also deserves at least some of the credit for Romney's decisive victory in a bitterly fought campaign.
"The Olympic experience demonstrated that I am not just a businessman, that I've had experience broader than making money and that life for me includes bigger purposes," Romney told the Deseret News.
"That was just as true in '94 as it is today, but people didn't know it," he said.
Eight years ago, Romney challenged one of the nation's most powerful Democrats, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, and lost.
In 1999, he was talked into taking over the troubled Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney is credited with turning around the Games, which returned a $100 million profit despite financial setbacks resulting from the bid scandal and the fears raised by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
By the time Romney returned to his home in the Boston suburb of Belmont in March, a "Draft Mitt" movement was already under way. The acting governor of Massachusetts, Republican Jane Swift, soon stepped aside to make way for Romney.
The Olympics "absolutely" elevated Romney's stature in Massachusetts, said Charlie Manning, one of his top strategists.
"It was certainly a great record to run on," Manning said. Being able to point to cuts made in SLOC's $1.3 billion helped convince voters that Romney could do the same for Massachusetts.
"People believe him because they knew the Games had gone so well," Manning said. "We're very parochial here, so we love that a hometown boy made us all proud of him out at the Olympics."
A few familiar faces from SLOC surrounded Romney, including the organizing committee's Washington, D.C., lobbyist, Cindy Gillespie. Gillespie joined the campaign as a volunteer three months ago, serving as Romney's debate coach. Another campaign adviser, Steve Coltrin, heads a New York City-based public relations firm hired by SLOC.
President Bush called from Air Force One to congratulate Romney. Romney and his family spent much of the evening watching the election returns in the Presidential Suite of one of Boston's posh hotels, the Park Plaza.
Romney said he was thinking about his late father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney. George Romney was elected 40 years ago when he was 55 years old — the same age as his son.
"My dad was very much on my mind," Romney said. "There's a real sense of following in his footsteps," except when it comes for running for president. Romney said he has no plans to seek the White House.
Tuesday's win comes after a contentious campaign marked by negative advertising from both sides. Among the issues raised was Romney's $1 million donation to Brigham Young University to help finance the George Romney School of Management.
In a front-page story, the Boston Globe questioned whether the gift to a school with "anti-gay policies" conflicted with Romney's support for gay rights. Otherwise, his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not an issue in the campaign.
At his victory party, Romney waved an early copy of Wednesday's Boston Herald with "It's Mitt" splashed across the cover of the conservative tabloid. The Globe reported Wednesday that Romney won big not only among independent voters but also urban and union Democrats.
The end to O'Brien's effort to become the state's first elected woman governor came surprisingly quickly. Within an hour of the polls closing at 8 p.m., Romney's usually reticent campaign manager was confident enough to mouth the words "We're going to win" to a reporter.
O'Brien had turned to Kennedy and other heavy-hitters in her party, including former President Bill Clinton, for help in the final days of the campaign. But she was not able to convince voters that Romney couldn't be trusted because he had "put profits before people" in his business dealings.
Utahns would have welcomed Romney back had he lost what's known here as the Corner Office, according to a Deseret News/KSL-TV poll. Sixty-two percent of Utahns questioned before the election said that if Romney didn't win they would favor him returning to Utah to seek office some day.
Romney said he was "flattered that my friends are so kind," sending his regards to his supporters in Utah.
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