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Gov. Daniels doesn't want to run in 2012, but he might

Posted by Susan Page,Feb 23, 2010  10:59 PM

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, asked about a possible presidential bid in 2012, replies: "I don't plan to do it; I don't expect to do it; I don't want to do it."

But he just might do it.

Daniels, meeting with reporters at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor, says he wants to encourage and be part of "a grown-up conversation" about the nation's fiscal future, and he notes a presidential campaign is one way to do that. "I'm just very concerned about the direction of the country," he says. "I would like to have some input into a Republican alternative."

Daniels, 60, has a sterling resume: Chief of staff for Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar; White House political adviser to President Ronald Reagan; head of the Office of Management and Budget for President George W. Bush; a top executive for Eli Lilly and Company. He was elected governor in the Hoosier State in 2004 and re-elected by an 18-point margin in 2008 -- which was not a good year for many Republican candidates. 

At the breakfast, he struck a serious tone. "I'm sincerely concerned for the future of the American experience," he says, cited several "survival issues": The federal budget deficit, the combination of terrorism and technology, and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. "Those are three 50-caliber problems," he says. "We can't just continue in the barrel over the falls."

The current political debate doesn't match the times, he says. "I want to see my party, our party, campaign to govern, not merely to win," he says, offering a plan "that has credibility, that holds water."

Of course, Daniels would be looking for a new job in 2012. Indiana law prohibits the governor from running for a third consecutive term.

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