Business History Boosts, Bogs Down Romney

Mitt Romney's business success gives him the resources necessary to run a presidential campaign, but his deal-making background also opens him to criticism. The success of Bain Capital helped Romney built his personal fortune, the Times report, and the fact that he wasn't afraid to cut jobs for the sake of the bottom line may come back to haunt him.

His great success in leveraged buyouts—he appears to prefer the less loaded term "venture capital"—opens Romney to charges that he chased big money at the expense of the little guy. Such criticism sank his '94 Senate bid against Ted Kennedy, and Democrats are ready to stir things up again should he emerge victorious from the GOP race. (More Mitt Romney stories.)