Mitt Romney will need independent voters in November, but he isn't abandoning his "severely conservative" record.

The likely Republican presidential nominee has embarked on an aggressive campaign against President Barack Obama that straddles two sometimes-conflicting political ideologies.

On some days, the former Massachusetts governor is a social conservative and social moderate, a right-wing conspiracy theorist and promoter of political compromise. With the primaries over, it's an evolving balancing act that, so far, is leaning decidedly right.