See Mitch Run
I suspect that when Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was first approached about running for President he probably looked at the people suggesting the idea like they were nuts. But the more he thought about it and the more he explored the idea, it didn’t seem so crazy after all. And after looking at events these past few weeks, I am now convinced that the Governor of Indiana wants to run for the Presidency of the United States. I have read so may tea leaves I feel like the owner of the East India Company. There are a number of things that have led me to this conclusion. Here are a few of them…
- A recent meeting with Ed Gillespie, the former chair of the Republican National Committee and who ran George W. Bush’s campaign.
- The implosion of the current field of Republican candidates.
- Cheri Daniels speech at the Indiana Republican State Dinner and the “Run Mitch Run” signs that were up all over the place as he spoke. (That would not have happened without the Governor’s implied approval).
- Daniels’ upcoming trip to Washington and unpublished meeting with the Congressional delegation.
- 9% unemployment, $3.90 a gallon gas, $14 trillion in debt.
- His accomplishments this past legislative session.
- His closet friends and confidants are encouraging him to run.
- He hasn’t said “no”.
The most important one is number 8. If the Governor wasn’t going to do this, he would have said “no” by now. And for everyday he doesn’t say “no” I argue the odds increase he’s going to say “yes”. There are a lot of rumblings that something could happen next week. I’m not so sure about that now following his recent accident at the gym, but something is coming.
And I don’t think the Governor is being coy or playing political games, per se, when he says a final decision hasn’t been made yet. He’s stated in the past that a run for the White House has to be a family decision. So I would not be surprised if he’s sat down individually with each member of his immediate family and spoke to them to get their thoughts and they’re planning to regroup (if they haven’t already) and take a final family vote. I would also speculate the Governor has told them the decision has to be unanimous or it’s game over. Running for the White House will totally change the lives of those closest to him and if they’re not on board, forget about it.
Now granted, I could be completely off base on this one. But this is what the tea leaves are telling me. Daniels wants to run. Daniels is planning to run. Daniels is getting all the final items in place and dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s”. If he doesn’t run after all this, it will be because of something pretty big. Either way, after all this I’m giving up tea for a while and going back to coffee.
Stay tuned.
