cool breeze on January 18, 2013 at 10:44 AM

– the biggest issue– his wife is a trainwreck

thurman on January 18, 2013 at 11:43 AM

Mitch gave his wife a veto and she used it. For those not familiar with the history, she left Mitch and the kids for another man. Thereafter she had a change of heart, and they reconciled.

Does anyone doubt what kind of smear campaign the loathsome media would have waged against him, and how it would escalate if he appeared to be a real threat to Obama? They would have stopped at nothing and tried to destroy his candidacy by attacking his family.

It is a shame she didn’t have the courage or the strength to back him up. But it is understandable.

..Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but will ANYONE be
surprised if he’s yukking it up next year with Marxist Profs???

– he is not constitutionally capable of running a tough, aggressive campaign. He would have made Mitt look like a tough guy. He had nothing to combat the nastiness and desperation of the O camp
– he is too meek, short, bald, etc. Sorry, but it’s true. You have to look the part on stage, at debates, on the trail, etc. I love that about him, but for the low information idiots who decide election, appearance matters
– the biggest issue– his wife is a trainwreck. All it took was one very small warning shot from the NY Times that they would be happy to discuss her sleazy past and she flipped out. She is not well liked in Indiana and has had several meltdowns. Sorry, but his wife was probably the deciding factor. I’m fully convinced Mitch wanted to run himself and she blocked it. That’s how stupid politics is now, spouses matter almost as much as candidates

The bottom line is Mitch would have gotten crushed in a national campaign. Would he have been the best man for the job? Probably so, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t win the damn election

rockmom, is that a particular problem at Purdue? I mean, I always figured that there is less of that in schools like Purdue and Georgia Tech than most other colleges. If your university’s bread and butter is graduating astronauts and engineers, there is less time for Marxist foolishness.

radjah shelduck on January 18, 2013 at 10:27 AM

I don’t know for sure, but it is a typical large university and they all have suffered from administrative bloat and the “edifice complex.” Daniels has already made some statements to the effect that he is going to look to curb administrative costs before increasing tuition. It is a fairly conservative school already – had it not been, it almost certainly would not have hired Daniels – so he should be able to do a lot.

With one child in college and another going in a few years, I am more interested in higher education right now than almost anything else going on in the country. So I have high hopes that Daniels can really make a difference there.

I really wanted Mitch to run but I’m also glad for Purdue and future students. He will make an impact.

You have got to figure he knew a lot better than anyone else whether the skeletons in his closet doomed his chances from the start.

JetBoy on January 18, 2013 at 10:29 AM

Just having someone serious, articulate, and responsible in the primaries would have done the GOP and the country a world of good. He really does have a message that resonates outside of the base and he even impressed my liberal friends with his cogent conservative arguments. Instead we got the Newt-Trump-Cain circus.

…I can only imagine how much better things would be if he a ham sandwich were in the Oval Office.

JetBoy on January 18, 2013 at 10:29 AM

If only…

…Daniels was arguably the most ambitious, effective conservative governor in America.

Bingo.

I was very disappointed he did not run…I can only imagine how much better things would be if he were in the Oval Office.