Daniels has about him none of the star quality of President Obama. He speaks with the flat tones of the Midwest. He is physically unprepossessing. He looks earnest.

But if you want to see a politician who knows how to connect with voters, go to YouTube, look over a few of Daniels’ recent speeches and click on a couple of his campaign ads. Whereas last year Barack Obama carried Indiana by just one point, Mitch Daniels swept to a second term by 18.

“Our current baby-boomer president,” Daniels told the students at Butler University, “has written two eloquent, erudite books, both about … himself.”

Who knows? By 2012, the country may be ready for a no-nonsense, straightforward candidate who doesn’t hold with self-involvement–or big government.