Mitch Daniels Open to Presidential Bid

By GottaLaff

Too late for the CPAC straw poll, huh?

Late last year, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) said explicitly he was not interested in running for president in 2012 and dismissed any speculation that he might be a candidate.

"That has now changed, according to the Washington Post.

"During an interview at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association here over the weekend, Daniels said he has now been persuaded to keep open the door to a possible candidacy."

It's always good to start right out with a flip flop. Mitch Daniels (R-Hyp. O. Crite):

He then left Hudson in 1990 for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company. From 1993 until 1997, Daniels was President of North American operations, and promoted to Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Policy at Eli Lilly in 1997 where he served until leaving the company in 2001.^[7][6]

In January 2001, upon his appointment as Director of federal Office of Management and Budget (see below), Daniels resigned as a member of the board of Indianapolis Power & Light Co. and sold the $1.45 million he held in company stock, donating the proceeds to charity. Later that year, Indianapolis Power & Light Co. was bought by Virginia-based AES Corp.^[6] After the stocks dropped, the Indiana Securities Division investigated the sale and found no wrongdoing. A state investigation also found no wrongdoing. [...]

In January 2001, Daniels accepted President George W. Bush's invitation to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). [...]

Daniels came under fire for overseeing a $236 billion annual surplus turn into a $400 billion deficit during his 29-month tenure. Supporters argued that Daniels was one of the few in the administration working toward restraint, and that ultimately he had to take marching orders from the administration.^[7]

In 2002, Daniels helped discredit a report by Assistant to the President on Economic Policy Lawrence B. Lindsey estimating the cost of the Iraq War at between $100–$200 billion. Daniels called this estimate "very, very high" and stated that the costs would be between $50–$60 billion.^[10] In March, as Congress considered H.R. 1559, “Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003,” OMB was ordered to prepare an estimate for the defeat of the Iraqi Army and a six-month aftermath ending with the 2003 fiscal year on September 30.^[11] Daniels’ estimate referred only to this period,^[12].

Much more here.

Oh, and there's this:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, in the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address, said the House's climate bill was "a classic example of unwise government." The address culminated a week of coordinated Republican attacks on the Democratic proposal, which would require the first nationwide reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

By all means, Mitch, run.

Mitch Daniels Insists He's Not Running in 2012

Really no upside to him running that I could see. Too many state flame outs with his name on them.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) was asked about possible presidential aspirations in 2012, the Herald Bulletin reports. However, he insisted once again that he has no intention of running.

Said Daniels: "No. There's only one way you can spell it."

Talk of Barbour-Daniels for Top Ticket in 2012

Talk about the most untelligenic, white bread BORING ticket imaginable! Hope it happens.

For a second week, a GOP sex scandal has helped an aspiring 2012 presidential candidate. This time, it's Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who takes over the Republican Governors Association from South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who admitted, in detail, his affair with a woman in Argentina.

Barbour is somebody to watch, say his Republican allies. He served as head of the Republican National Committee under Ronald Reagan, was a successful lobbyist, and then won praise for his Hurricane Katrina cleanup despite the Bush administration's bumbling efforts there. He's dismissing the talk, for now, as he focuses on helping Republicans win election to the House and Senate in 2010.

But that hasn't stopped the buzz in Washington, where we're already hearing of a 2012 ticket teaming Barbour with another two-term governor, Indiana's Mitch Daniels. He was a White House political director under Reagan and served as George W. Bush's first budget chief. Like Barbour, he's popular in his state, though quick to reject talk of his political future while still in office.

Mitch Daniels Ends 2012 Speculation

Toodles Mitchy. My dream? Evan gets bored with DC (he'll never be President), decides to run the state again and a real Democrat runs for his seat. I know, I did say it was a dream...

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) indicated today that his current job would be his last, "a statement likely to deflate the hopes of many conservatives around the country that he'd run for president in 2012," according to Real Clear Politics.

Said Daniels: "I've only ever run for or held one office. It's the last one I'm going to hold."

Mitch Daniels (R-GOV-IN) to GOP: Quit 'whining'

Thank g-d they won't listen to a RINO like Daniels (ha!). Rush is already defending Palin from those evil NCNA "Presidential Persperators", and Gov Crist just may not be pure enough.

Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.) is urging Republican leaders in Washington to stop “whining” in order to mount a serious opposition to President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.

“I hear Republicans whining about, you know, the Democrats not being bipartisan. You know, ‘We weren't included in this, we weren't at the table in that.’ Well, get over it, that's the way those folks are,” Daniels said in an interview that ran Saturday in National Journal. “To me there's not a lot of upside in whining.”

Daniels said Republican leaders have behaved “erratically” since the beginning of the Obama administration, frequently offering “process arguments” rather than competing policy prescriptions.

“What they should say instead is, ‘Well, here's the way we would spread health insurance and not ration care and not take away your freedom in the process. If they'd let us in the room, this is what we'd suggest,’” Daniels said.

The two-term Indiana governor urged Republicans to come up with a “better idea” in policy fights with the White House because “the public needs to see you care and that you've thought about it and you've got a constructive suggestion.”

NJ Gov. Corzine, IN Gov. Daniels and OH Gov. Strickland talk state economics

Even my Governor critter is going to take the bucks.

Mitch Daniels for President in 2012?

Oh please oh please oh please! Go here to read the entire release.

But the following release, from backers of recently re-elected Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, strikes me as worthy of some note. Sure, it's self-promoting, but from what I know, it's also pretty factual. And, without saying so, it makes a case for Mitch Daniels as a possible presidential candidate. Daniels's experience is not confined to Indiana state government; he was George W. Bush's first director of the Office of Management and Budget, which gave him a fine overview of the federal budget and government operations, and served as an aide to Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar in the 1980s.

Oh yes, just the man to handle the economy after President Obama fixes it. (fingers crossed)

As White House Budget Director, Mitch Daniels brashly predicted that the Iraq War would not only be "an affordable endeavor," he had the audacity to tell the world the Iraqis "would not require sustained aid." Sitting in the comfort of his kitchen at his Geist Reservoir mansion, Mitch Daniels insisted by phone to a reporter for the New York Times on December 31, 2002, that the Iraq War costs "will be in the range of $50 to $60 billion."

Gingrich Gets His Facts Wrong, Claims GOP Governors Have Lowest Unemployment In Their Regions

Just wanted to point this out since I'm one of Mitch's 6.2%. Liar. Via Think Progress.

At 6.2 percent, Indiana isn’t even close to having the lowest unemployment rate in its Midwest region: It ranks eighth out of the 12 states in the region. Iowa (4.2 percent), Kansas (4.8 percent), Minnesota (5.9 percent), Nebraska (3.5 percent), North Dakota (3.6 percent), South Dakota (3.2 percent), and Wisconsin (5 percent) all posted lower unemployment rates than Indiana. And, as Media Matters notes, “Three of those states — Iowa, Kansas, and Wisconsin — have Democratic governors.”

Indiana Gov Mitch Daniels (R) Hiding From Palin

Hahahaha! Ahem. The majority of polls show him still beating Jill Long Thompson, but I guess he doesn't want to hedge his bets.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Gov. Mitch Daniels will skip a Sarah Palin campaign rally in Indiana for the third time in 12 days when she visits Jeffersonville on Wednesday, but he'll make an appearance in the parking lot before the event.

Daniels, who supports the John McCain-Palin ticket, said he has a scheduling conflict while he campaigns for a second term. The Republican governor will be in vicinity of Palin's rally at a Jeffersonville warehouse, but at another site.

(snip)

"I'm going by" the Palin rally, Daniels said. "I've got another event scheduled at the same time, but it is close by, so I'm going to go by and spend as long as I can there and hang out in the parking lot and spend some time with the folks standing in line or patiently waiting to get in."

Some of the reasons Indiana is going blue

From a friend, these pics were taken in Indianapolis.

New poll shows Indiana governor's race close

A reader asked yesterday about this race when I posted about Obama taking the lead in Indiana. I don't pay enough attention to local races (bad Paddy), but I see Long Thompson squeaking thru if the newly registered Democrats come out like I think they will. Daniels is running a couple different ads that are pretty boilerplate, and stupidly one of them is about property taxes which he promises to "fix" in his second term, but are currently causing many huge problems and not a good thing to remind people about.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A new statewide poll shows a close race between Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson.

The Indianapolis Star-WTHR poll released Thursday night found 46 percent of likely voters supported Daniels while 42 percent favored Long Thompson. The difference matched the poll's margin of error of four percentage points.

The poll was a telephone survey of 600 likely voters conducted Sunday through Tuesday by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa.

One Of The Reasons I Think Indiana Goes Blue This Year

By Paddy


Or at least a light purple. Mitch's numbers aren't as good as they should be, and it's because of stuff like this. Hoosiers did not like the sale.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Toll booth lines, high gas prices and even an advertising mascot have drawn the ire of motorists traveling the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road across northern Indiana.

Drivers have flooded several state offices with letters, e-mails and calls complaining about the highway, which a Spanish-Australian consortium paid $3.8 billion to operate nearly two years ago.

"With the high costs of fuel people can't readily afford to sit in traffic for an hour or more just to go 1-2 miles to pay a toll," said Ryan Courtney in a letter sent last summer. The Lowell resident said toll booth backups had nearly doubled his commute time to Chicago for work, but they have since dropped.

Filthy restrooms at the highway's travel plazas, which are operated by private businesses and not Toll Road management, have drawn complaints. One letter writer described clogged sinks, dirty toilet stalls and overflowing trash bins at the Toll Road bathroom she used.