Brian Lamb: How did you get elected governor of the state of Massachusetts?
- Governor Mitt Romney**: Well, it’s one of the great leaps in my career, the idea that a conservative Republican could be elected in the bluest state in America I think flows from the fact that Democrats as well as Republicans don’t want to see their money wasted.
They don’t like taxes. And when I was running for office, we knew there was a huge budget gap. They thought it was going to be about a billion or a billion-and-a-half dollars. It turned out to be $3 billion.
But I said I was going to get them into government and not raise taxes, not cut essential, vital services, but instead pare back excessive government duplication, waste, inefficiency, cut everything that was not of a high priority. And we were able to do that.
And I think people were looking for somebody who would be fiscally prudent and not raise taxes.
I also think that on social issues that my opponent was more liberal than the voters of Massachusetts, that may seem hard to some in the country. But there was a big issue surrounding abortion.
My opponent favored lowering the age of parental involvement in an abortion decision for a minor from 18 to 16. I said, no, keep it at 18, don’t change the abortion laws.
And also with regards to gay marriage. I was very clear I was opposed to gay marriage and civil unions, Vermont-style. She, on the other hand, said she would sign a bill on gay marriage -- favoring gay marriage if it reached her desk.
So on those issues where I was conservative and she was less so, she was liberal, I think Democratic voters who were conservative as well, came across the -- if you will, the partisan divide and voted for me.
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