February 26, 2010 – 5:10 pm
I am glad to see that the effort to get Governor Daniels to run is getting more attention:
After months of Shermanesque denials, Indiana GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels’ admission that he’s now willing to consider a White House run has roused his long-standing, if unofficial, fan club.
Republican admirers from Washington, Indiana and elsewhere, hoping to encourage their favorite Hoosier, are out in force to make the case that a balding, blunt, unprepossessing, listed-at-5-foot-7 policy wonk would be a strong contender to take on President Barack Obama. Their shorthand is that he’s the un-Obama. If the country has soured on a charismatic orator who brought glamour but little executive experience to the presidency, the thinking goes, then Daniels could provide the antidote.
“Do we want a president that’s pretty, or do we want one who can get the job done?” is how Anne Hathaway, a former Republican National Committee chief of staff who is now back in her native Indiana, puts it.
February 24, 2010 – 10:34 pm
My respect for Mitch Daniels is only increased by Jill Lawrence’s profile of the Indiana Governor:
If Mitch Daniels ends up with a national career, it will be because he’s the anti-Palin: All substance and, aside from his motorcycle habit, no flash.
The Indiana governor is on many Republican short lists for 2012, but he hasn’t gotten there in quite the same way as other governors and ex-governors. He hasn’t quit, published a book or signed a media contract, like former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Nor has he shifted on the political spectrum from mild-mannered moderate to sharp-edged conservative, as have former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and and Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, the better to rally activists such as those at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
February 23, 2010 – 11:32 pm
I have made no secret in the past about my admiration for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. He is very smart, a sharp political fighter, an authentic small-government Republican, knows where the bodies are buried in Washington, as a former Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Governor Daniels has done a sterling job in Indiana, and has all of the qualifications that one could ask for in an excellent President.
November 18, 2009 – 6:01 pm
As compiled by Real Clear Politics. I could easily see myself supporting Mitch Daniels, who has tremendous experience as a political aide, a successful pharmaceutical executive, a Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and as Governor of Indiana.
October 7, 2009 – 5:54 pm
He has quite the sense of humor.
