How Romney 'retroactively retired' from Bain: 4 takeaways

Team Romney tries to explain how he was technically the CEO of Bain Capital for much longer than previously stated, but its story only further muddies the waters

Mitt Romney
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Under attack from President Obama's re-election campaign, Mitt Romney has been forced to defend and clarify his tenure at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded. This weekend, a top aide, Ed Gillespie, claimed that Romney "retroactively retired" from Bain in 1999, even though SEC documents show that Romney was the CEO of Bain through 2002. Romney's departure date is considered important because Bain, which made huge profits buying out other companies, has been accused of forcing its properties to lay off workers and outsource jobs between 1999 and 2002. Romney claims he made no day-to-day decisions at Bain after 1999, but new reports continue to surface suggesting that Romney did indeed maintain ties to the company. Here, 4 takeaways from Romney's efforts to defuse this increasingly compromising issue:

1. Romney has failed to put the issue behind him

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