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ELI5 - An outline of the Republican Nominees

Hey guys

Australian here. Could someone please give me a run down of all of the Republican nominees (or at least the main ones) with information like what they stand for and what the public (or various subsets of the public) think of them?

Cheers!
gpt
**Mitt Romney** is the former governor of Massachusetts and prior to that he was a businessman. He is very wealthy. He is a social and economic conservative, but many voters feel he may actually be more moderate based on his history of changing his official stance on certain key issues. 

Romney ran for president in 2008 and has an extensive campaign network.


**Rick Santorum** is a former senator and he is extremely socially conservative. He is known for likening homosexuality to beastiality and pedophilia.

**Ron Paul** is a social and economic libertarian. He believes government exists to take away individual rights and he wants to remove as much of the government as possible. He also doesn't believe in financial regulation or much of the current US foreign policy.

**Newt Gingrich** is the former Speaker of the House. He is an economic conservative but his record as a social conservative is somewhat suspect. One of his major campaign issues has simply been to bash Obama.

**Rick Perry** is the current governor of Texas. He is a religious social conservative and financial conservative. He is in many ways comparable to George Bush.