Not sure I care for his attitude:
Watching Republicans jockey for position as they fight to become the presidential nominee isn't distressing Gov. Mitch Daniels, who decided not to join the race earlier this year.
For one thing, he's not watching them.
“I haven't watched a single debate,” Daniels said Tuesday afternoon, answering questions after a speech he delivered at the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce annual meeting at its office, 826 Ewing St.
“I don't know if I have (second thoughts), but apparently a lot of other people have,” he said, noting that he gets many texts and emails after each debate.
“I think we'll have a very quality candidate, as the loyal opposition should,” Daniels said.
I mean, really now. If I have to suffer through the debates, then he should have to suffer through them. He's the state's top Republican, after all, so he should consider being a role model. Or maybe he knows the issues and the candidates so well that he doesn't need to watch the debates, in which case he should be sharing his insights. "I think we'll have a very quality candidate"? Well, help make that happen
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He could only make it happen by allowing himself to be drafted at the GOP convention, unless you think any of the declared candidates is a "quality candidate," or even can win. For whom would you vote? I'm not gloating, I'm just puzzled. No one seems to like Romney (I have no idea where he *really* stands on any issue), but there seems to be no viable alternative. It sure looks like Obama vs. Romney at this point. How would a conservative vote? Stay home? Write-in?
The problem the GOP has is this: Obama CAN be beat...but the GOP does not have a candidate yet that can beat him.
They need a "rock star" and they are running out of time.
Kevin, what you and so many others ignore is the Bradley effect. Obama has high favorables because people are polite and don't want to labeled a racist for even hinting that they don't like his policies.
When people get behind a curtain to vote secretly (unless of course Obambi and the Dems finds a way to change that too) the levers will be pulled for "anybody but Obama" in large numbers. The Republicans don't need a rock star, a ham sandwich will beat the Chicago Jesus.
This will be a fascinating election because the "polls" leading up to it will be wildly inaccurate on Teh One's numbers.
Tim, I'd never heard that argument before, although it is interesting. I've asked before, and I don't recall if you answered: Which (declared) candidate would you support? Do you think he (or she) can win? I agree that Obama ought to be beatable, given the economy. I just think your best contenders, a list which includes Daniels, have decided not to run this year. I'd be a lot more concerned for Obama if Christie or Jeb Bush were running. Romney will be taken apart through the simple expedient of running old videos of him praising gun control, socialized medicine and gay marriage.
I haven't picked a candidate yet Littlejohn, suffice to say I firmly believe Mickey Mouse would carry enough votes to oust the Community Organizer.
I've said for 2 years it doesn't matter who the Republican candidate is, they will win.
Wow. I admire your confidence. I think if Obama is willing to go even a little bit negative, it would be easy to find the Achilles heel of every GOP frontrunner. Gingrich is a serial adulterer and a hypocrite who clearly lobbied for Fannie Mae, Romney has flip-flopped on everything, Perry and Cain have both said embarrassing things during debates or under questioning. I realize the economy ought to make Obama vulnerable, but I think congressional Republicans are getting at least as much blame for obstruction. Anyway, we'll see.
True, the economy is in bad shape. And whether Obama SHOULD be blamed for this is irrelevant to the fact that whoever is at the top is always the one who IS blamed for it.
But I still fail to see how the Republicans plan to cut the income tax for the rich (capital gains) to half of what others pay is going to win them huge numbers next year.
The "Bradley Effect" is based on the fact that people will lie to pollsters if they think their actual opinion is socially unacceptable. Between OWS and the Tea Party, it has become VERY socially acceptable to diss Obama.
Even before a single vote has been cast, even before a single caucus has met, Jon Stewart has called the GOP nomination for Mitt Romney. Ron Paul has all the credentials, he points out, to be the nominee of his party - but he's not a Republican. Huntsman is Romney without a personality. The rest of them all seem to be climbing out of a itty bitty little car in the center ring at the circus.
And if Romney gets the nomination, there are a lot of GOP regulars that will stay home, thinking "better the devil you know than the devil you don't know."
If I were writing a movie for TV, I'd have some billionaire not known to have a political bone in his body announce about April that there aren't any acceptable candidates on either side, and that he was launching a "None Of The Above" campaign. He'd run ads in each market asking OWS and Tea Party people to carry petitions to run a favorite son for president, offering to pay the filing fees. For instance, in Indiana, you could have Larry Bird as favorite son, or Bobby Rahal.
After the election, but before the electoral college votes, the billionaire would have the first-ever meeting of the entire electoral college. (Up until now, the electors in each state have never met with the electors in other states.) He'd ask people interested in being president to interview for the job before all the electors, and let the electors select a candidate at this convention before they would go home to their own states to cast their electoral votes.
Who would they elect? Maybe Larry Page. I dunno. Anyone who wants to steal the idea and write a book, please feel free to run with the idea. I'd like to read it.