But much of the attention that he has attracted has been the result of two factors: his religion, and his apparent switch from technocrat to social conservative.

Mr Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - a Mormon.

Mormons say they are Christians but are regarded with suspicion by some other Christian groups, and polls have suggested that ohio car insurance quote to one-third of Americans would not vote for a Mormon for president.

Mr Romney has attempted to brush off such surveys, saying that Americans might well have told pollsters they would not vote for a divorced actor for president - but elected Ronald Reagan in two landslides.

Boston businessman

Mr Romney began his career as a businessman in Boston after completing a joint degree in law and business at Harvard University.

He is credited with helping to turn around his management consulting company, Bain & Company, when he took over as chief executive officer in 1990.

MITT ROMNEY Born 12 March 1947 in Detroit, Michigan Educated at Brigham Young University and Harvard Free online car insurance quote, 1975-1999 Chair of Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, 1999-2002 Governor of Massachusetts, 2003-2007

After spending the rest of the decade as head of Bain Capital, a venture-capital fund, he was asked to take charge of the Salt Lake City Olympic committee.

The committee was mired in a corruption scandal and running seriously under budget with the Games only three years away.

Mr Romney moved to Utah and made a success of the 2002 Winter Olympics, positioning himself to run for governor of Massachusetts as a results-oriented pragmatist.

The 2002 governor’s race was the second time Mr Romney had sought state-wide office in Massachusetts.

In 1994 he had run against the state’s venerable Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, reportedly spending more than $7m of his own money to do so.

Mr Romney lost by a 17-point margin - but that was better than any other opponent had done in any challenge to Mr Kennedy since the early 1960s.

Gay marriage

He was more successful in 2002, at a time when Massachusetts was facing a state budget crisis.

Again dipping into his own pockets, he spent $6.3m of his own money and took 50% of the vote to Democrat Shannon O’Brien’s 45%.

Two major developments during his tenure as governor are likely to resonate during his presidential campaign: passage of a law requiring all adults in the state to have health insurance, and a court decision requiring Massachusetts to let gay people marry.

It is time for innovation and 50 car insurance in Washington… I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by a lifelong politician Announcing his White House run

The health-insurance law was the first of its kind in the United States, a country with no national health service.

Mr Romney was a key player in getting the law on the books, enabling him to take credit for cracking an issue that has been the subject of bitter battles for generations in the US.

He was far from supportive of the gay marriage decision, however.

His public opposition to the court ruling marked the beginning of his recasting himself as a social conservative.

Admirers say he had always held socially conservative views, though he had appeared to back gay rights and access to abortion in the past.

Critics say his change of tune was cheap car insurance quote as he positioned himself to run for president in 2008 as the standard bearer of Christian conservatives.

His fundraising ability helped catapult him into the top ranks of Republican contenders alongside Senator John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani - both of whom are distrusted by social conservatives.

Mr Romney was born on 12 March 1947, the son of politician and auto executive George Romney.

The senior Mr Romney ran briefly for president in 1968.

Mitt Romney, whose given first name is Willard, is married with five sons.