Romney helped to save a teenage girl in 1996

[Bull Moose Base]

This incident happened 2 years after Romney began his political career.  We see fairly clearly in the 2012 race that Romney the politician has attempted to learn from his failure the preceding loss and shore up his weaknesses. It's likely Romney was eying an upcoming run for governor when this happened and thought of similarly, adjusting from his past mistakes.  In his 1994 race 2 years prior, Ted Kennedy had hurt Romney with attack ads showcasing him as a callous executive at Bain.  When this incident happened, Romney presumably understood, consciously or subconsciously, how he responded to it might well be discussed in a future political campaign.

Romney made this incident into an ad for his 2008 presidential campaign.  Romney is talking about it extensively.  His campaign tweeted and worked to promote the story today.  Romney may have been worried about his colleague's kid or he may have been worried about his next run.