Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" are real and in the hands of The Boston Globe, and some are saying his 2012 viral comment referencing them could actually help the former presidential nominee if he decides to run for office in 2018.
The former governor of Massachusetts used the phrase when answering a question on workplace inequality during a 2012 debate against President Barack Obama. It took on a life of its own from there, supplying the media with fodder for years.
Romney used the phrase to describe information his staffers brought him when he was trying to hire more females.
Though the comment backfired during the debate, the binders are apparently real. The Globe claims a former Romney aide shared two white, three-ring binders, weighing in at a combined 15 pounds, with staffers. The binders are "packed" with nearly 200 resumes and cover letters of candidates, according to the newspaper.
The binder-gathering reportedly began during Romney's 2002 transition period after he beat Shannon O'Brien in the Massachusetts governor's race.
"It was a response to a desire on the part of the Romney administration to access a pool of talent," Linda Rossetti, who worked with the coalition of women's groups that help the transition team, told The Globe. "They drummed up what was an inelegant way to get at this pool of talent."
The Washington Post reported that Romney's past efforts to hire more women, and his "binders" comment, would likely play a lot better in today's political environment.
"Indeed, the binders' discovery could make voters in deep-red Utah, where Romney might run, nostalgic for a time when the chief criticism of the nation's top Republican was that he tried too hard to promote women," writes the Post's Callum Borchers.
"Trump's Cabinet is overwhelmingly male, a fact the news media has noted. By contrast, half of Romney's senior policy appointees, in his first year as governor, were women. In short, revisiting the 'binders' episode makes Romney look like a champion for women," Borchers added.
The Atlantic reported this month that Romney is exploring a run for Orrin Hatch's Senate seat in 2018.
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