But then, consider its context: Romney, now crisscrossing the country campaigning for President Bush, is being labeled the hot, new star of the Republican Party and has a front-row seat rooting for the opposing team at the Democratic National Convention that opened Monday in Boston.

And the book may also be part of the answer to the first question Romney was asked last week after a speech at the National Press Club: Are you interested in running for president?

President Bush pretty much has that sewed up at this point, he said, smiling. Reporting on the speech, the congressional paper Roll Call proclaimed Romney "virtually announced his candidacy for presidency." Republican political strategist Stephen Moore puts Romney on a short list that includes Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist as those who could challenge for the GOP nomination in 2008.

"He would be very formidable, very much a top-tier candidate for president or vice president," said Moore, president of Club for Growth, which helps raise millions of dollars for conservative candidates.

So Romney's new tome, Turnaround - Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games, seems to follow the unwritten axiom that all presidential contenders must publish a self-aggrandizing book that highlights their background, beliefs and qualifications for higher office.

The Romney read certainly showcases in entertaining style his challenges and successes at the helm of the Salt Lake Games. But perhaps most surprising - especially for Utah disciples unaccustomed to the bare-knuckles Boston side of Romney's political persona - is the frequent sniping Romney has for several prominent players in the 2002 Olympic saga.

Some of those on the receiving end figure the governor is using the barbs to try to enhance his own stature while laying the groundwork for a White House bid. What disappoints me most is that Mitt could have written an important and fair appraisal of the Salt Lake Olympic Games, said John Krimsky, a former U.S. Olympic Committee marketing executive who is negatively portrayed in Romney's book. Instead, he created a political story of how Mitt Romney saved the Olympics and the success he fathered."

Krimsky disputes Romney's published charges that he misled organizers about the true number of willing sponsors, made amateurish sales pitches, wasted money on lavish perks, and steered a disproportionate share of the revenues toward the USOC. Romney's skewering of the USOC brings to the surface a belief held by some members of the Olympic Movement that the Salt Lake Games boss was an unceasing self-promoter who used the Olympics as a political springboard.

Says Krimsky, now managing director of strategic alliances for Loring Ward Group, a large sports management firm: This is all about Mitt Romney. This has nothing to do with the Olympic Games."

Frequently in the book, Romney stresses his knack for turning failure into success. He tells how he converted vocal Olympic detractors such as Jon Huntsman Sr. into benefactors, and how his Salt Lake Organizing Committee team's pitch to corporations that had shunned the USOC produced major sponsorships.

He lavishes praise on his staff, the volunteers and public safety employees who helped stage the Games, while expressing continued amazement over the cultural dominance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. As a member of the LDS faith who had never lived in Utah, he was stunned when he unknowingly created controversy by announcing there would be no alcohol served at the Medals Plaza, located on church property.

In Utah," Romney writes, "alcohol is about a Church.

Former USOC communications chief Mike Moran, now a member of New York City's 2012 Olympics bid team, said the success of the Salt Lake Games in the public's mind does not necessarily revolve around the host committee's struggles.

He's overlooking a huge achievement in how people view the 2002 Games, which is the unprecedented success of the American team, and that is the USOC, said Moran.

In explaining how he and his management team rescued the scandal-plagued Games, Romney dings not only the USOC and federal prosecutors who failed to convict former bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson, but tosses in shots at former Jazz star Karl Malone, philanthropist James Sorenson and hospitality mogul Earl Holding, among others.

The portrait he paints of Holding is especially unflattering. Noting the reclusive tycoon invested $100 million to improve Snowbasin Ski Area and build the Grand America Hotel for the Games, Romney calls him an "odd mixture of lavish spender and skinflint." He writes Holding spent months, years trying to negotiate a higher rate for rooms at his hotels for SLOC guests during the Games.

We in turn spent months trying to get Earl to contribute something to our donor program, he writes. Zippo.

A spokesman for Holding, who acquaintances say is recovering from recent health problems, did not respond to requests for comment.

Romney opens the book with an unsavory rendering of Utah's bid effort, relating a 1995 dinner with Welch at La Caille. Welch glad-handed diners in the over-the-top east-bench restaurant and played cutesy with servers in low-cut bustiers. Later, upon viewing a statue of an eagle Welch had prominently displayed in his home, Romney dismisses Welch as all talk, noting, Everything about Tom seemed made for show. After reading that section of the book, Welch declined to respond, as did his Washington attorney, Bill Taylor.

Johnson's attorney, Max Wheeler, read portions of the book and said he's surprised a high-level elected official like Romney "would stoop to ad hominem attacks" on individuals so long after the Games ended on a positive note.

"Diminishing Tom Welch and his character is supposed to elevate him to a higher level?" said Wheeler. "It's hard to understand what he thinks he's accomplishing by attacking people and expounding on things he has no information on, but this is sort of what people expect these days from politicians."

Book signing

Mitt Romney will be be signing copies of his new book about the 2002 Winter Games at two locations on Monday:

l Where: Deseret Book in the ZCMI Center, 36 S. State St., Salt Lake City.

l When: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

l Where: Barnes & Noble in Sugar House, 1104 E. 2100 South.

l When: 2 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.