News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Local & Bistate

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
January 3, 2011

Gov’s future a hot topic of conversation

Maureen Hayden CNHI

INDIANAPOLIS — Over the course of a few short days last week, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was described by national political writers as wonkish, boring and short.

He was also called an “economic conservative who can appeal to the middle ground” by the BBC British news service, and rendered as flawed for his obsessive “laser-like focus on fiscal reform” by a conservative columnist for the Washington Post.

Just days after Christmas, an MSNBC political commentator described him as “magical” and likened him to Santa Claus.

The cause for the cacophony of media coverage: Daniels’ announcement months ago that he was open to the possibility of running for president in 2012.

It’s not a topic the Republican governor wants to talk about right now. He’d rather focus, he’s said, on pushing through an ambitious legislative agenda that includes transforming public education, shrinking local government, and changing the way criminals are sentenced in Indiana’s courts.

He’ll have more luck doing that this time around. When the Indiana General Assembly convenes Wednesday to kick off its next legislative session, his fellow Republicans will dominate both the state House and state Senate.

But in an interview last week with the CNHI Statehouse Bureau, Daniels conceded it isn’t easy to ignore the media clamor for more.

“There has now been so much of it, you can’t ignore it,” Daniels said of rampant speculation of his potential candidacy.

He doesn’t personally track the candidacy stories any more, but friends and staff do, he said. What amuses them — and just as often irritates them — is what Daniels describes as the “one-dimensional” nature of how political pundits cast him.

Most often, the Princeton University-educated governor, who earned the nickname “The Blade” when he served as President George W. Bush’s cost-slashing budget director, is called “wonkish.”

Or as Daniels defines it: “cerebral but boring.”

Daniels, a church-going motorcycle rider who campaigned for governor crisscrossing the state in blue jeans and a motor home, would like to think of himself as more than that.

“It’s as if they think you couldn’t be smart and funny at the same time,” said Daniels of political pundits who’ve pigeon-holed him for the convenience of quick copy or short sound bites.

“It’s as if you’re either a person of the people or a wonk,” Daniels said. “They can’t quite cope with the idea that maybe you could be a little bit of both.”

Daniels is quick to dismiss the media members who haven’t spent time in Indiana, seeing what he sees as the big accomplishments of his six years in office: Major cost-cutting of state spending, relatively minor budget woes compared to neighboring states, and much investment in roads and infrastructure — all capped off by a constitutional cap on property taxes.

If not for those things, he said, “no one, I guarantee you, would be paying attention to me.”

What’s he not so quick to dismiss, though, are the concerns of family members who fear what a presidential candidacy could cost them: Their privacy.

 Daniels said his wife, Cheri, and their four daughters — all grown and three married — are wary of the intense media scrutiny that can descend upon a candidate’s family.

“It scares them to death,” Daniels said. “And it should.”

The private family conversations about his potential candidacy are off-limits, he said. But those family conversations matter. “It would be a big deal if they said no.”

And he added: “I could put my country ahead of everything I could think of. Except one.” The “one” being family.

One theme emerging in the media coverage of a Daniels’ candidacy is that he lacks the “star” power of such celebrity politicians as Sarah Palin, who resigned as the governor of Alaska after a failed run for vice president.

He’s not daunted by that. “A lot of these people writing these stories, or the people they’re writing about, for them politics is television and tarmacs. They’re raising money, having little media stunts and they’re closeted away with consultants. We are at the other end of the earth from that.”

The Daniels name likely won’t disappear soon from the pundits list of potential candidates, but as 2010 was ending, Daniels had some other things on his mind, including his health.

He spent the last week of December engaged in an annual routine: A yearly physical along with a trip to the eye doctor. He spent last Wednesday fasting before undergoing what he said were routine diagnostic tests.

The 61-year-old Daniels, a fitness buff, declared himself fit for whatever may come: “I’m as healthy as a horse.” 



Maureen Hayden is statehouse bureau chief for CNHI’s Indiana newspapers. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local & Bistate
Latest News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
AP Video
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House China, Others Want What's Under the Arctic Ice Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Suicide Bomber Kills 2 Americans, 13 Others Raw: 6 Die in Russian Ship Fire Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival Raw: Pope Frees Doves From Cage Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
NDN Video
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Beyonce Is Pregnant! SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion Woman tricked into taking abortion pill Emma Watson Goes Pantless IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths Cindy Crawford Stuns At Cannes
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News