Mike Pence takes himself out of the presidential race, breaking some hearts and gladdening others:
Just this morning, Richard Viguerie and Ralph Benko published an op-ed in Politico anointing him the man to beat if he declared given his standing among both fiscal cons and social cons. As it is, Palinistas everywhere breathe a sigh of relief that there's one less “true conservative” to worry about. I'm actually kind of surprised that he's passing on 2012: His thinking, presumably, is that with four years of executive experience and no Democratic incumbent in the White House, he'll be primed for a serious run in 2016. But so will Christie and Rubio and Jindal and who knows who else. It'll be a strong field, whereas this year's really isn't. Speaking of which, Pence reportedly met with Mitch Daniels just eight days ago to discuss matters unspecified; I wonder if that was to sound him out about his own intentions, on the assumption that two Hoosiers in the field will cancel each other out, or if he was giving him a heads up about his decision.
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Needless to say, a big reason for the “Draft Pence” push in recent weeks was some social cons being uncomfortable with Palin or Huckabee as the nominee. Where do those people turn now?
Not to Mitch Daniels, I'm guessing. In many Republican circles, he's considered a moderate rather than a "true conservative." The piece refers to something that's become obvious from watching the news shows -- Daniels has the buzz right now of being the "establishment's favorite," meaning the commentariat establishment, people like George Will, Charles Krauthammer and David Brooks.
