Excerpts from Romney interview

By: Mike Allen

April 26, 2007 03:29 PM EST

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney sat down with The Politico’s Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin on Tuesday evening at a Boston hotel near the Romney campaign headquarters. Here are excerpts of the conversation:

Q. We’ll start with the Roger Mudd question. Why do you want to be president?

A. “I can make America a more prosperous and secure place for my kids and grandkids, and your kids and grandkids. Because Washington is a mess and needs to change. There are two courses we can take: A course for weakness, the course that Europe has chosen of big government, big taxes and less personal responsibility. Or we can take the American way, which calls on the strength of America – it strengthens our military, it strengthens our economy and it strengthens the American family. I know how to make America strong. And for that reason, I’m running for president.”

Q. You’ve made it clear in talking to conservatives that your conversion on the abortion issue was quite sincere. In office, what policies would you initiate to show that sincerity?

A. “As governor of Massachusetts, for example, I had four pieces of legislation that came to my desk that related to the preservation of life. In each case, I came down on the side of respect for life. One was with regard to abstinence education in schools. One of the initiatives that my wife and I will lead is an effort help kids get through high school and get married before they have babies. There is an epidemic of out-of-wedlock births. Fortunately, it was cooled off by virtue of welfare reform, but there’s a lot more cooling off to do. And I will make a concerted effort to help kids wait to have babies until after they’re married.”

Q How do you make that sale?

A. “First of all, by telling kids what the consequences are of good decisions versus bad decisions. We are one of the most effective marketing and advertising nations in the world. People look at us and marvel at our communications capabilities. We need to use those same skills to help kids understand that if they have babies in high school, the prospects of them being able to go to college are not very good. The likelihood their child is going to get raised in poverty if they’re not married is multiple times greater than if they get married beforehand. So part is through education. There are other things we have to do to encourage marriage before babies. One is to look at our social programs and the fact that our social safety net penalizes marriage.”

Q. How is your church so successful in getting its young people to follow its teachings?

A. “I’m probably going to have to suggest that you turn to the church. I’m not enough of an expert.”

Q. “Well, you’re a parent.”

A. “I am a parent. I’m not enough of an expert on what the church has done. I can tell you what, as a parent, has been helpful, in my view. As a parent, we have taught our kids from the very beginning that it’s OK to be different – that there is honor and greatness associated with people who are willing to be different. Abraham Lincoln was different from his friends. George Washington had integrity and honesty that was different and distinct. Some of the great leaders of this nation have been willing to be different. And when our kids have told us that their friends are doing certain things that we deem to be unhealthy or immoral such as having kids out of wedlock, we were able to say, ‘You have different beliefs and different values. You have to decide what’s important to you and have the courage and integrity to be different.’ Now, have our kids experienced temptation and occasionally succumbed? Absolutely. I can’t tell you that our five boys were perfect. They’ve undergone challenges and I’m sure even to this day have challenges in their lives and struggle with them, as all of us do. No one is free of those things. But they try, and they make efforts to be better people. If I were to tell you one thing about my faith, it is that it encourages me to be a better person than I otherwise would be, and I think it’s done the same thing for my kids.”

Q. As someone who has enjoyed privilege throughout your life, how can you relate to the aspirations of a lot of Americans who don’t enjoy similar circumstances?

A. You’re going to have to see that in the way I’ve lived my life and what I’ve cared about. I have enjoyed a very close relationship with my wife and she’s gone through some challenging times, as you know. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I have experienced through that trauma a taste of some of the challenges that others face. One of the things that my wife points out is that almost everyone you know looks like they have no problems. When you get to know them, you find they’re carrying a bag of rocks behind them, of their challenges and their problems. I’ve served as a Boy Scout leader, worked with young people to understand their problems and challenges, worked in counseling people in various settings.

Q. What is your mission in the debate coming up at the Reagan Library, and what do you think will happen?

A. “Well, very modest expectations, because there are going to be 10 people, I think, at the debate. We’ll each get five or six minutes to respond to questions from Chris Matthews. By the way, why is it that the Democrats wouldn’t even go on Fox but we Republicans are happy to sit there and have Chris Matthews of the Carter administration, former chief of staff to Tip O’Neill? We’re happy to sit there and have him dish questions to us, but they won’t even go on Fox. It shows that we have a lot more courage of our convictions and our positions.”

Q. Why ARE you willing do to that?

A. “Because we have courage -- I have courage of my convictions and positions and am not in any way shy of spending time with Chris Matthews.” Chuckles

Q. At the grand opening of your headquarters in Iowa, on a teleconference call you had question from a lady about polygamy. Why do you think that in this day and age, the year 2007, some key tenets of your faith are still so misunderstood?

A. “Well, I think most people have other things to do in their lives besides keeping up to date with Mormon doctrines.”

Q. But polygamy is more than just a doctrinal issue.

A. “Yes, of course. But you have TV shows that continue to play off the old history, and people don’t spend a lot of time looking at the disclaimer that says this is not the practice of the Mormon church today. They just sort of watch it and don’t pay a lot of attention to it. My expectation is that as this campaign goes on, there’ll be a little more attention to recognize that some of the old misconceptions are exactly that.”

Q. What do you make of all the attention being given to Fred Thompson?

A. “It’s welcome. ‘Come on in, the water’s fine,’ as they say. This is a large field. We have terrific candidates that are here. I wish we had more diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity. But we are where we are in that regard. He’s a terrific guy. Senator Thompson is a person with a great reputation who’s known across the country. He’s a prosecutor, for heck’s sake. As District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s 'Law & Order' He puts bad people in jail every week. And so of course people are going to warm to his brand of leadership.”