Romney: 'In the end, we’ll win'

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—In his first public address since conceding the presidential race to President Barack Obama in November, Mitt Romney urged a conference of conservative activists on Friday to remain optimistic despite the loss. And he called on them to look to the nation's Republican governors as sources of leadership and strength.

"I left the race disappointed that we didn't win. But I also left honored and humbled to have represented values we believe in, and to speak for so many good and decent people. ... It is up to us to make sure that we learn from my mistakes and from our mistakes, so that we can win the victories those people and this nation depend upon," Romney said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

"It’s fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party. I utterly reject that pessimism. We may not have carried the day last November 7th, but we haven’t lost the country we love, and we haven't lost our way," he said.

"I would urge us all to learn lessons that come from some of our greatest success stories, and that is 30 Republican governors," continued Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. He went on to list a number of state executives—including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who were not invited to speak at the conference. Several of the panels during the three-day event, a gathering of thousands of conservatives from across the country, have focused on finding new ways to win elections in the future.

It was at this same meeting last year that Romney, while engaged in a brutal primary battle with fellow Republicans, told attendees that he considered himself to be "severely conservative." He ultimately clinched the primary a few months later, but his campaign was unable to gain enough enthusiasm to best the sitting president in the fall. This year, Romney took a moment to apologize for losing the election, but he vowed to continue to advocate for conservative causes.

"Each of us in our own way are going to have to step up and meet our responsibility. I'm sorry I won't be your president, but I will be your co-worker and I will work shoulder to shoulder alongside you," Romney said. "In the end, we'll win. We'll win for the same reason we've won before, because our cause is right ... and just."

As he exited, the audience gave Romney a standing ovation.

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Man who took Romney "47 percent" video reveals himself

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scott Prouty was at a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last year as the bartender, and ended up secretly taping a video that changed the trajectory of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Prouty went public with his story on Wednesday after months of speculation as to who might have been the source of the video that dealt a body blow to Romney's campaign.

Last May at a Florida fundraiser, Romney said 47 percent of voters were dependent on government and "will vote for the president no matter what."

When Prouty handed the tape over to Mother Jones and the magazine published it in September, Romney was put on the defensive for weeks and never really recovered, losing to President Barack Obama on November 6.

"I didn't go in there with a grudge against Romney. I was more interested as a voter," Prouty told MSNBC.

Mother Jones also confirmed that Prouty was the person who taped the video.

He described himself as a "regular guy, middle class, hard-working guy" and was tending bar at the event which donors had paid thousands of dollars to attend.

Prouty said he was initially motivated to release the tape by a different comment that Romney had made in which he expressed interest in having his private equity firm buy a Chinese factory that employed 20,000 people who earned little money.

The news media seized on the 47 percent section of the speech. Prouty said he felt it changed the course of the election.

"I think it defined him at a critical point, defined him for exactly who he was," said Prouty.

He said he had no contact with the Obama presidential campaign over the tape.

"I voted for President Obama, but I'm actually (a) registered independent," he said.

(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha and Steve Holland; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Man who took Romney "47 percent" video reveals himself

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scott Prouty was at a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last year as the bartender, and ended up secretly taping a video that changed the trajectory of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Prouty went public with his story on Wednesday after months of speculation as to who might have been the source of the video that dealt a body blow to Romney's campaign.

Last May at a Florida fundraiser, Romney said 47 percent of voters were dependent on government and "will vote for the president no matter what."

When Prouty handed the tape over to Mother Jones and the magazine published it in September, Romney was put on the defensive for weeks and never really recovered, losing to President Barack Obama on November 6.

"I didn't go in there with a grudge against Romney. I was more interested as a voter," Prouty told MSNBC.

Mother Jones also confirmed that Prouty was the person who taped the video.

He described himself as a "regular guy, middle class, hard-working guy" and was tending bar at the event which donors had paid thousands of dollars to attend.

Prouty said he was initially motivated to release the tape by a different comment that Romney had made in which he expressed interest in having his private equity firm buy a Chinese factory that employed 20,000 people who earned little money.

The news media seized on the 47 percent section of the speech. Prouty said he felt it changed the course of the election.

"I think it defined him at a critical point, defined him for exactly who he was," said Prouty.

He said he had no contact with the Obama presidential campaign over the tape.

"I voted for President Obama, but I'm actually (a) registered independent," he said.

(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha and Steve Holland; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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A reflective Romney emerges from seclusion, rips Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four months after his bitter election defeat, a reflective Mitt Romney said it "kills" him not to be president and admitted mistakes were made in his losing White House campaign - particularly his failure to win over minority voters.

In his first television interview since November's loss to President Barack Obama, Romney leveled a fresh blast of criticism at Obama for failing to lead and putting politics ahead of results in the confrontation with congressional Republicans over the budget and spending cuts.

"It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done," Romney said in an interview on the "Fox News Sunday" program, adding that Obama was still campaigning rather than bringing people together to craft a deal.

"I don't see that kind of leadership happening right now," the 2012 Republican presidential candidate said. "The hardest thing about losing is watching this critical moment, this golden moment slip away with politics."

Romney's interview was the first step in a slow public re-entry for the former Massachusetts governor, who has been largely secluded at his southern California home with his wife Ann since the November loss.

In two weeks, Romney will make his first public speech since the election, to a conference of conservative activists in Washington.

In the Fox interview, taped last week and aired on Sunday, Romney mostly avoided questions about the heavy criticism he has received from his fellow Republicans for running a lackluster and gaffe-prone campaign.

"I don't spend my life looking back," Romney said, adding he would not run again but he would still be active in public life.

He said he should have done a better job in appealing to minority voters including blacks and Hispanics, calling his failure "a real mistake."

Romney, who called for "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants during the Republican primaries, lost the vote of more than seven of every 10 Hispanics to Obama. Most of the illegal immigrants in the United States are Hispanics.

'TWISTED AND DISTORTED'

Romney also said he regretted his wording in secretly recorded remarks at a Florida fund-raiser about the "47 percent" of Americans who were dependent on government and would never vote for him.

"It's not what I meant. I didn't express myself as I wished I would have," Romney said.

"When you speak in private you don't spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted, and it could come out wrong and be used," he said. "That hurt. There's no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign."

Romney said he still planned to speak out on issues and to help Republicans going forward, although he said that "I recognize that as the guy who lost the election, I'm not in a position to tell everybody else how to win."

Romney said he was convinced he was headed to victory in November until early on election night, when he saw the first exit polls showing a tight race in Florida, where he expected to do well. By the time the "disappointing" results from Ohio began to come in he knew it was over, he said.

"It's hard. It's emotional. I mean, there was such passion in the people who were helping us. I just felt, you know, we have really let them down," he said.

Romney refused to criticize Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey for praising Obama and joining the president on a tour of storm damage in the state one week before the election. Some Republicans have criticized Christie for giving a boost to Obama in the campaign's final days.

"Chris was doing what he thought was best for the people of his state," Romney said. "I lost my election because of my campaign, not because of what anybody else did."

Romney said he and his wife, who also participated in the interview, were spending more time with their grandchildren and slowly adjusting to life after a presidential campaign.

"We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs," he said. "But the ride ends, and then you get off."

Ann Romney said she blamed the media for unfairly treating her husband. The portrayals of them as rich and out-of-touch kept the public from getting "to know Mitt for who he was."

While she shed tears after the loss, she said, "I'm mostly over it. But not completely."

(Editing by Will Dunham)

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A reflective Romney emerges from seclusion, rips Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four months after his bitter election defeat, a reflective Mitt Romney said it "kills" him not to be president and admitted mistakes were made in his losing White House campaign - particularly his failure to win over minority voters.

In his first television interview since November's loss to President Barack Obama, Romney leveled a fresh blast of criticism at Obama for failing to lead and putting politics ahead of results in the confrontation with congressional Republicans over the budget and spending cuts.

"It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done," Romney said in an interview on the "Fox News Sunday" program, adding that Obama was still campaigning rather than bringing people together to craft a deal.

"I don't see that kind of leadership happening right now," the 2012 Republican presidential candidate said. "The hardest thing about losing is watching this critical moment, this golden moment slip away with politics."

Romney's interview was the first step in a slow public re-entry for the former Massachusetts governor, who has been largely secluded at his southern California home with his wife Ann since the November loss.

In two weeks, Romney will make his first public speech since the election, to a conference of conservative activists in Washington.

In the Fox interview, taped last week and aired on Sunday, Romney mostly avoided questions about the heavy criticism he has received from his fellow Republicans for running a lackluster and gaffe-prone campaign.

"I don't spend my life looking back," Romney said, adding he would not run again but he would still be active in public life.

He said he should have done a better job in appealing to minority voters including blacks and Hispanics, calling his failure "a real mistake."

Romney, who called for "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants during the Republican primaries, lost the vote of more than seven of every 10 Hispanics to Obama. Most of the illegal immigrants in the United States are Hispanics.

'TWISTED AND DISTORTED'

Romney also said he regretted his wording in secretly recorded remarks at a Florida fund-raiser about the "47 percent" of Americans who were dependent on government and would never vote for him.

"It's not what I meant. I didn't express myself as I wished I would have," Romney said.

"When you speak in private you don't spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted, and it could come out wrong and be used," he said. "That hurt. There's no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign."

Romney said he still planned to speak out on issues and to help Republicans going forward, although he said that "I recognize that as the guy who lost the election, I'm not in a position to tell everybody else how to win."

Romney said he was convinced he was headed to victory in November until early on election night, when he saw the first exit polls showing a tight race in Florida, where he expected to do well. By the time the "disappointing" results from Ohio began to come in he knew it was over, he said.

"It's hard. It's emotional. I mean, there was such passion in the people who were helping us. I just felt, you know, we have really let them down," he said.

Romney refused to criticize Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey for praising Obama and joining the president on a tour of storm damage in the state one week before the election. Some Republicans have criticized Christie for giving a boost to Obama in the campaign's final days.

"Chris was doing what he thought was best for the people of his state," Romney said. "I lost my election because of my campaign, not because of what anybody else did."

Romney said he and his wife, who also participated in the interview, were spending more time with their grandchildren and slowly adjusting to life after a presidential campaign.

"We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs," he said. "But the ride ends, and then you get off."

Ann Romney said she blamed the media for unfairly treating her husband. The portrayals of them as rich and out-of-touch kept the public from getting "to know Mitt for who he was."

While she shed tears after the loss, she said, "I'm mostly over it. But not completely."

(Editing by Will Dunham)

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