Now, longtime loyalists and friends say the 73-year-old former director of George W. Bush’s Office of Management and Budget is warming up to the idea of a return to politics, batting around a potential third gubernatorial run in the Hoosier state’s open 2024 contest. Current Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Daniels ally and his handpicked party chairman during his administration, is term-limited from running again.

“He’s fascinated by the idea,” Mark Lubbers, Daniels’ longtime confidante and top political adviser early in his gubernatorial administration, told POLITICO in an interview Thursday while on an annual golf trip with Daniels at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. He said the two “discussed” recent speculation in Indiana media that Daniels could mount a return to the political stage after his turn in academia.

“We have NOT discussed policy or politics of a run,” Lubbers later added in a text. “Suffice to say he would never do it unless he felt there were ambitious policy objectives. You’ve heard him say before that he likes BIG ideas. He would have no interest ever in running to just hold the seat again. Not his style.”