'Mitch the knife' eyes 2012 run (Mitch Daniels)

Politico ^ | February 26, 2010 | Jonathan Martin

[Cheap_Hessian]

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.

At 60, Daniels’s résumé is exhaustive: He’s a Princeton-educated former Senate chief of staff-turned political operative-turned think tank chief-turned Fortune 500 executive-turned White House budget director-turned two-term governor.

And since winning the governorship in 2004, he has practiced the sort of fiscal conservatism that he preached as “The Blade” during his tenure as President George W. Bush’s head of the Office of Management and Budget.

“Mitch is the real thing,” said Nancy Dorn, his deputy at OMB and now the head of General Electric Co.’s Washington office. “He’s a true fiscal conservative.”

[lookout88]

No, don’t. DeMint yes.

[ari-freedom]

he knows how to privatize. For example, he privatized the Indiana toll road.

[ari-freedom]

DeMint is a Senator...

[ConservativeDude]

I like what I know of Mitch, but would love to hear what the locals have to say....

[ari-freedom]

he apparently has very high approval ratings. He was re-elected in 2008 even though Indiana went for Obama on the same election day.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Later.

[Gator113]

Palin.....

[pissant]

Forget Daniels. We need a rock ribbed conservative.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

I like this guy. Personally, I think the country needs more guys like this (smart, fiscally conservative) and less people who get by on looks and soundbites.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I was thinking that Daniels would have been a good VP pick for McCain. I think he would be a great VP pick for Palin.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

I listened to Gov. Daniels on "Brian and the Judge" last week, being interviewed by Judge Napolitano, and I was very impressed with him. (Very conservative and a childhood friend of the Judge's.) I don't know if this is the right move, but he is strong!

BTW, I was on with the Judge immediately following the Daniels interview.

[1raider1]

I’ve read that Calvin Coolidge was a pretty good President. He wasn’t tall nor blessed with great hair either.

[sodpoodle]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Daniels

He’s purty;)

[ari-freedom]

kinda like Bush’s Cheney. Or Penn’s Teller. The guy who just gets the job done.

[ansel12]

So this guy is the most conservative or just a moderate that non social conservatives like?

[Bob Eimiller]

PALIN/BOLTON - 2012

[ari-freedom]

Bolton? Come on. He was never elected to anything.

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

Mitch Daniels —

In what phone booth will his rallies be held?

[ari-freedom]

Don’t forget the Greek columns. Every candidate needs some of those.