For Romney, 2005 Was Key Year of Policy Shifts - Obama campaigned aga. mandate that everyone must buy health ins., saying it should be limited to kids

From The Wall Street Journal:

To win election as governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Mitt Romney made a truce with liberal activists and cast himself as a moderating force within the Republican Party. If he becomes the GOP nominee for president, it may be because of steps he took to change those alliances during a few months of 2005.

Mr. Romney had once said he didn't "line up" with the National Rifle Association, but in May 2005 proclaimed "The Right to Bear Arms Day.'' He had rejected the label of either pro-choice or pro-life, according to an abortion-rights activist, but in July 2005 wrote: "I am prolife." He helped lead talks on a pact to control emissions but in December 2005 surprised some staff members by pulling out.

A "flip-flopper" tag has long dogged Mr. Romney. Less known is that his reputation as ideologically elastic was cemented over a 10-month stretch in the second half of his term as governor. Conservative interest groups that had once received a cold shoulder were extended a glad hand, while liberal groups often got iced out.

To people who served in his administration, 2005 was the year his mission changed. For the two previous years, the problem-solving, ideologically ambiguous governor was tackling the issues of a state in deficit, clogged with infrastructure problems and sprawl, and struggling with the uninsured

"You have to understand, Mitt Romney is very pragmatic, and I think what happened was the issue became, 'How do I win the presidency of United States?'" said Rob Garrity, a Republican environmentalist and Romney supporter who served in his administration. "Positions changed."

His repositioning prepared him to be a plausible candidate for the GOP beyond liberal-leaning Massachusetts, while showing him ideologically nimble enough to still appeal to voters in the political center. It is that appeal that supporters say makes him the most electable of the Republican contenders.

Changes of positions are hardly unique to Mr. Romney, and he isn't the only one running for president who has to wrestle with shifts in policy or tone. President Barack Obama campaigned in 2008 against a mandate that everyone must buy health insurance, saying it should be limited to the purchase of health coverage for children. He switched as the health bill wound its way through Congress, and now the mandate is the center of political and legal battles over the health-care law.

Hillary Clinton established her reputation as an activist liberal when she was First Lady. After she was elected to the Senate, she set out to re-establish herself as a political moderate ahead of her own White House run.

Republican candidate Herman Cain has offered shifting explanations of his position on abortion. Rick Perry has retreated from a position he took as Texas governor that the state should order girls to be vaccinated against the HPV pathogen.

All have been criticized from within their own party for such moves, and, like Mr. Romney, often attribute the shifts to changing circumstances or argue the moves are alterations of tone more than substance.

Mr. Romney as governor pressed forward with a health-care law that he saw as his legacy, a market-driven approach that was in vogue with many conservative thinkers at the time. Now, it appears he may have miscalculated: The Massachusetts health-care law remains a major burden on his quest for the Republican nomination.