But “to his credit,” Jones says, “he probably filed the first budget document since Bill Weld in ’91 and ’92, that the legislature took seriously. He has been very successful in setting an agenda, and we’re working off that agenda.

Healey adds that Romney “has been able to achieve consensus on the idea that we don’t want any new taxes.”

“I think its because he has that fresh perspective,” she says. “I don’t think someone without that would have been able to do it.”

A Squeaky Clean Image

With even the slightest criticism of Romney, both supporters and many opponents are quick to add that his morals are in the right place.

“He’s an extremely principled man,” Healey says of the influence Romney’s religion has on his approach to government, “That’s reflected in his approach to life.”

Friends emphasize his commitment to family: with his wife Ann D. Romney, he has five sons and four grandchildren.

Carey says that at staff meetings in the governor’s office, she often notices the photographs that offer a glimpse into Romney’s close family life.

“They’re not, you know posed pictures,” she says. “They’re of people having fun. There’s this one cute picture of three little kids in a row—you know, classic kid stuff. It just makes you realize this is someone who’s very grounded.”

Clark says that Romney has a gift for making people laugh as soon as he walks through the door of his family home.“He just brings a warmth that makes him the kind of person people really like being around,” he says.

Romney is known for his straight-as-an-arrow image.

When an Olympics Committee volunteer said that Romney had sworn at him in a confrontation over the volunteer’s handling of a traffic jam, Romney famously declared that he said nothing worse than “H-E-double-hockey-sticks” to the volunteer.

‘Citizen Public Servant’

Davis says that a different version of Governor Romney emerges when he’s at work.

“It’s interesting—when you see the governor at press conferences, he’s all, you know, spiffy,” she says. “But when he’s working, his sleeves are rolled up, and he’s there taking notes, very involved.”