Mitt tells Games highs, lows

At one point, Romney said he was invited to join the president in his limo. "Cool," Romney wrote of the trip. "Here was the leader who had declared the War on Terror, who had invaded Afghanistan to root out the Taliban. This was more than your average president."

Bush agreed to leave the ceremonies early so spectators wouldn't be delayed by security. The president, Romney said, watched the fireworks from his limo, down the street from the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Romney also described how LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve watched the Games' closing ceremonies from the top floor of the church office building downtown because it was a Sunday.

"As the fireworks began to ignite across the valley, President Hinckley went to the window and stood, silently. Tears ran down his cheeks," Romney wrote, because the world had been welcomed to the place settled by Brigham Young.

The LDS factor

What Romney called the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' "cultural dominance" in Utah did pose problems. An entire chapter is devoted to "SLOC and the Mormon Church."

Most of the hate mail Romney received at SLOC involved his membership in the LDS Church. "Even though many included ample repetition of the 'f-word,' I save the letters just in case the FBI needed leads if I were to disappear," he wrote.

He said he was surprised "that a religion would be such a big matter for the Olympics." Controversy surrounded the church's contribution of a downtown parking lot for the Medals Plaza because alcohol was not served during the nightly celebrations there.

That decision was made because it would be unfair "to the church that had been so generous to us, to sell alcohol on their property," Romney said. "You don't borrow the rabbi's barbecue grill to cook pork chops, and you don't use the Mormon Church's property to sell liquor."

He acknowledges that a press conference called to toast the Olympics with orange juice and champagne was "hokey" but that it accomplished its purpose of distracting attention from newspaper stories about the "Mormon Games."

The scandal

Romney was blunt in his assessment of the prosecution of his predecessors, Tom Welch and Dave Johnson, on charges related to the bid scandal. Earlier this year, a federal judge in Utah dismissed all charges against the pair.

Not being convicted of a crime isn't vindication of wrongdoing, Romney wrote. "Even when criminal conduct occurs, it may be difficult to prove — and that's with effective prosecutors. I believe those who pursued Welch and Johnson were inept."