Romney: 'I don't have a political career'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has run for public office no less than four times over a period of almost 20 years, denied Wednesday that he had a "political career."

"I can tell you this: The best hope you have that I will be able to change Washington is that, number one, I have had the experience of leadership and, number two, I'm not a creature of Washington," Romney told a crowd at the Republican Jewish Conference. "I'm a creature of the private sector, I'm a business guy."

"I'm not in this because I want the next step in my political career. I don't have a political career," he said.

The candidate failed at a bid for former Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) seat in 1994, and mounted a successful campaign for Massachusetts governor in 2002. Since leaving office, he has been engaged in a perpetual campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Romney’s desire to appear as a regular American has caused him to make a series of gaffes this year.

In June, he in Florida that he was “also unemployed.”

Returning to Florida in September, the candidate claimed that he was .

Romney told a group of workers at a steel plant in November that federal employees made more than he did.

The former Massachusetts governor has a net worth estimated at up to $250 million.

The latest Federal Election Commission filings put his campaign war chest at $32 million.

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Dec. 7, 2011.