Mitch Daniels has plenty of reason to feel good about himself these days.
Last week, he won reelection in a landslide after cutting a wake through a change-averse state, and without going negative on his opponent, Jill Long Thompson.
Daniels also needs a raft to keep from drowning in accolades.
Today, Governing magazine named him Public Official of the Year for wiping out a deficit he inherited, leasing the Indiana Toll Road and raising cigarette taxes to fund a health insurance program.
Also this week, venerable Washington Post columnist David Broder devoted a big chunk of a column about rising Republican governors to Daniels, citing his pragmatic style of problem solving as an example of how to reinvigorate the decimated GOP. Broder quoted Daniels as attributing his success to relying on market principles, fiscal restraint, listening to people, and a live-and-let-live approach to social issues.
Bill Kristol, who edits the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, lumped Daniels in with Sarah Palin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal as potential presidential candidates in 2012.
Daniels has said he wonâ??t run for office again. Remember, though, that he was recruited to run for governor by party wigs worried about what they saw as a state going down the tubes.
So, if he were urged to run for something else, how would he respond?
If you were Daniels, what would be your next move?
Last week, he won reelection in a landslide after cutting a wake through a change-averse state, and without going negative on his opponent, Jill Long Thompson.
Daniels also needs a raft to keep from drowning in accolades.
Today, Governing magazine named him Public Official of the Year for wiping out a deficit he inherited, leasing the Indiana Toll Road and raising cigarette taxes to fund a health insurance program.
Also this week, venerable Washington Post columnist David Broder devoted a big chunk of a column about rising Republican governors to Daniels, citing his pragmatic style of problem solving as an example of how to reinvigorate the decimated GOP. Broder quoted Daniels as attributing his success to relying on market principles, fiscal restraint, listening to people, and a live-and-let-live approach to social issues.
Bill Kristol, who edits the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, lumped Daniels in with Sarah Palin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal as potential presidential candidates in 2012.
Daniels has said he wonâ??t run for office again. Remember, though, that he was recruited to run for governor by party wigs worried about what they saw as a state going down the tubes.
So, if he were urged to run for something else, how would he respond?
If you were Daniels, what would be your next move?
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Frankly, if the rudderless Republican Party continues in its downward spiral, I think there might be a concerted effort to keep him in the public sector -- especially if Lugar were to retire.
But I could see a return to a role in federal government, perhaps a future Cabinet position when the GOP returns to the White House.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH... wait, you're serious? Maybe if the Republican party doesn't reinvent themselves by then and want to drive the final nail in their coffin this would be the way to go.
I have been known to vote Republician, Democrat and Third Party (even on the same election), and reguardless of race, gender, religious background, or anything on their personal life, I vote upon their voting record and my hot buttons (hopefully like most of America).
What I don't understand about all of you so-called moderates and you liberals is that you proclaim that everybody needs to be respected in a diverse country. But in your next breath you disparage the conservative views of other people. C'mon folks - you can't have it both ways.
Daniels and Palin are two of the preeminate governors in this country. Both have taken active strides toward improving their respective states with dramatic results. Put differently - they have spoken with their actions rather than with eloquent hyperbole.