Romney’s past haunts him online

A new video posted on the Internet by Democrats includes a montage of political moments in which Mitt Romney downplays his Republican Party affiliation while running for governor of heavily Democratic Massachusetts in 2002.

“I’ve been very clear, I think, to people all across the commonwealth, that my ‘R’ didn’t stand so much for ‘Republican’ as it does for ‘reform,’ ” said Romney, now a presidential candidate, in a Sept. 21, 2002, interview with WBZ-TV.

The montage, posted by the Massachusetts Democratic Party, includes clips of Romney complaining about the lack of political balance in heavily Republican Utah, where he spent three years while he headed the 2002 Winter Olympics committee.

“I lived in a place that had a one-party state that was primarily Republican. I thought, ‘Well, won’t that be nice?’ The answer is no,” Romney told the New Bedford Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 16, 2002.

Romney won the gubernatorial election. He stepped down in January after one term.

But Romney’s comments during the 2002 race and an unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in 1994 have provided fodder for critics who have complained he has flip-flopped on issues.

“You know you’re making great progress and you’re doing things right as a good Republican when the wrong-way crowd in the Democratic Party starts attacking you,” said his press secretary, Kevin Madden.