Mitt Romney's record in Massachusetts

[snopes]

Comment: The truth hurts

Even as the rest of the country was enjoying a brightening economy, during
Romney's term as Governor Massachusetts plummeted to 47th out of 50 states
in job creation; manufacturing jobs declined at twice the national
average; and for the first time since 1995, its unemployment rate was
above the national average.

Long-term debt ballooned by more than $2.6 billion -- leaving the people
of Massachusetts with the highest per capita debt of any state in the
nation. State spending increased every single year, and Romney raised
taxes and fees by $750 million per year -- leading to a higher state and
local tax burden of $1,200 for every Bay Stater. Over his term, fees at
public colleges skyrocketed by 63 percent, and during his first year, K-12
schools saw the second-largest percentage cuts, per student, in the
nation.

All that in just four years.

Mitt Romney promised more jobs, less debt, and smaller government for
Massachusetts based solely on his experience as a corporate buyout
specialist. Turns out that being good at maximizing profits for yourself
and your investors, but leaving companies bankrupt and workers without
jobs, doesn't exactly prepare you to lead a state -- or a country.

Yet Romney's out there making the same empty promises all over again. And
we've got to make sure no one buys it this time.

The bottom line? Romney Economics didn't work for Massachusetts then, and
it won't work for America now.

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[cdav1313]

Most of that is probably true, but heavily skewed. You don't find a much more left-leaning state than Massachusetts and when Romney was in charge, the rest of the state legislature was predominately democrat (still is and has been since I've been alive).

And while Romney definitely bears some of the burden of our debt-filled state, 40 years of heavy-handed democrat rule has neither helped nor fixed it.

Basically the above comment is just pro-Obama spin.

[KingDavid8]

While I'm not a fan of Romney, some of what it says is misleading. This article at Factcheck.org (which isn't a response to this article, but a similar one) shows that some of this, while not necessarily false, is misleading. For example, it says that under Romney, job creation fell to #47 (from #37). If you look at his "four years" as a whole compared to the previous "four years", this is true. But if you look at it year-by-year, he actually took it from #50 up to #28. And while Massachusetts did indeed lose an above-average number of manufacturing jobs under Romney, it wasn't as many as were lost during the previous and following administrations. And his increase in long-term debt was less than under the previous administration.