Romney 2007 Flashback: America will take "mandate approach" to health care; requiring purchase of a policy is a "terrific idea"

Stormin' Mormon: Campaign '94 - By John B. Judis, The New Republic

The question about Romney is where he would stand in Congress's internecine battles. Would he side with Republicans such as John Chafee who have tried to develop constructive alternatives to Democratic legislation or with Republicans such as Phil Gramm and Newt Gingrich who have been willing to paralyze Congress for the sake of embarrassing the Clinton administration? Romney has indicated that he would side with the moderate wing. He endorsed the crime bill and refused to back Gingrich's jejune “Contract with America.” He told me he would have backed Chafee's health care bill. “I'm willing to vote for things that I am not wild with,” he said.

• Romney backed a *federal* individual health care mandate in 1994 - Blue Mass Group
• Romney Death Watch, Even Deathier Edition - By Jonathan Chait, The New Republic
• Flashback: Mitt Romney hoped for “a nation that’s taken a mandate approach” - By Greg Sargent, Washington Post
• Will Romney’s ‘defining’ speech on health care change anything? - By Jena McGregor, Washington Post
• Mitt Romney’s pro-state, anti-state, health-care plan - By Ezra Klein, Washington Post
• Romney in '08: 'I like mandates' - By Philip Klein, Washington Examiner
• Obama's Running Mate: Mitt Romney's ObamaCare problem. - Wall Street Journal
• Romney Aims to Inoculate Himself on Health Care - By Jonathan Weisman & Patrick O'Connor, Wall Street Journal
• Romneycare a big loser: It should dog Mitt’s campaign - By Michael Graham, Boston Herald
• Maybe Mitt could just call in sick - By Howie Carr, Boston Herald
• Romney: Picture of health: Speech could save — or kill — prez campaign - By Hillary Chabot, Boston Herald
• Romney wants to talk about health care plans - By Susan Page, USA Today
• Massachusetts health reform a double-edged sword for Romney: The state has 'nearly universal pride' over the universal coverage Mitt Romney signed into law as governor. But the achievement has emerged as his biggest obstacle to securing the 2012 Republican nomination for president. - By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times
• Mitt Romney's State Sovereignty Argument Fails To Lift Health Care 'Boat Anchor' From Around His Neck - By Jon Ward, Huffington Post