[3] Romney was considered a top-tier candidate in his bid for the Republican nomination, despite hurdles such as low name recognition and questions about his Mormon faith.

[6] On February 7, 2008, two days after McCain posted strong gains in the Super Tuesday primaries, Romney announced the end of his campaign.

Romney spent a considerable amount of time giving political speeches in key primary battleground states.

Romney traveled the country during the 2006 election cycle to campaign for gubernatorial candidates as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, spending over 200 days outside Massachusetts.

[10][11] While testing the waters for his campaign in 2005 and 2006, then Governor Romney was accompanied by Massachusetts state troopers on his cross-country trips.

[12] On January 3, 2007, his next-to-last day in office as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission.

It's taught me the vital lessons that come only from experience, from failures and from successes, from the private, public and voluntary sectors, from small and large enterprise, from leading a state, from actually being in the arena, not just talking about it.

[15] The sessions were open forums that allow opportunities for locals to ask Romney questions pertaining to his views and policies.

[30] The Mitt Mobile has been a large success in attracting attention, and was even featured on Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.

In a December 16, 2007, interview with Tim Russert, Romney repeated his claim that his "dad marched with Martin Luther King."

An article published by The Phoenix on December 19, 2007, argues that while David S. Broder "references a 1967 book he co-authored on the Republican Party, which included a chapter on George Romney [...with] a one-line statement that the senior Romney 'has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit'," historical sources found by The Phoenix found no references to George Romney having marched with Martin Luther King and that it was unlikely that a governor and former presidential candidate would go unnoticed.

The New York Daily News termed the ad a "thinly veiled attack on GOP presidential rival Rudy Giuliani who is competing for conservatives who want a crackdown on illegal immigration.

The ad features Romney jogging and highlights his career as governor of Massachusetts, running the Salt Lake Olympics, and the private sector.

[43] In late January 2008, the Romney campaign aired advertisements that cited McCain's calling Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry "a very close friend of mine.

"[44] On June 22, 2007, news organizations reported that one of Romney's top campaign aides was being investigated for having possibly impersonated a state trooper in Massachusetts.

[60] After Florida, McCain was the clear frontrunner for the nomination, and had the most delegates to the national convention heading in to the possibly-decisive February 5 Super Tuesday contests.

[63] On February 5, Super Tuesday, Romney won in the Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah caucuses and primaries.

However, John McCain strengthened his lead by winning Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma.

"[81] Mike Otterson, an LDS spokesman, said, "The suggestion that a Mormon leader would dictate policy to a President Romney is absurd.

"[82] During the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, similar allegations were made that a Roman Catholic would take orders from the Pope.

"[85] In October 2006, Romney asked to meet with a group of influential Christian leaders, including Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham, Gary Bauer, and Paula White to discuss his presidential candidacy.

[87] Romney gave a speech entitled "Faith in America," Thursday, December 6, at the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library in Texas, with the former president providing introductory remarks.

The speech, which was widely regarded as referencing that of then-Senator John F. Kennedy's September 1960 pledge not to allow Catholic doctrine to inform policy, discussed the role of religion in American society and politics; Romney said he would not allow any authorities from any religion, including his own, to influence presidential decisions.

He avoided speaking about specific Latter-day Saint doctrines, as he stated that by forcing him to become the spokesperson for his faith, it would be enabling "the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution."

[88] In December 2007, rival candidate, Mike Huckabee, when asked by the New York Times if he personally considered the LDS faith a cult or a religion, Huckabee said he believed it was a religion despite his lack of knowledge, but then followed up by asking, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?

Partly as a consequence, Romney shows up in national polls as the weakest of the major Republican candidates...."[93] Media Matters pointed out that in an April 10, 2007, speech, Romney criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her "partisan" trip to Syria, but he did not mention that a Republican was a member of her delegation, or that a separate Republican-led delegation had met with the Syrian President three days before Pelosi did.

When Brit Hume asked about the use of "Enhanced interrogation techniques" including waterboarding on captured terrorists, Romney replied that the real key is prevention through counterintelligence, adding that "we ought to double Guantanamo."

"[98] In the June 5th debate held at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College[99] near Manchester, New Hampshire, Romney responded to a question that asked if within hindsight, should Iraq have been invaded.

CNN contributor Paul Begala criticized this remark and called it "[a] huge mistake, a gaffe that -- that's, if this were a general election debate, would be a disqualifier," pointing out that inspectors had been allowed into Iraq.

The talk radio community, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, William Bennett, Mark Levin, Dennis Prager, Glenn Beck, Hugh Hewitt and Laura Ingraham endorsed Romney, in an anti-McCain move.