Dick Cheney visits Indianapolis, endorses Daniels

INDIANAPOLIS -- With warm wishes from Mitch Daniels and other Republican hopefuls, Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed and supported gubernatorial candidate Daniels Friday night at a campaign fundraising dinner in downtown Indianapolis. The event was expected to raise $400,000 with the $1,000 per-person dinner. Some attendees paid up to $3,000 to get their picture taken with Cheney. \nDaniels will run against the other Republican candidate, Eric Miller, in the primary, and the winner of that race will take on current Gov. Joe Kernan in November. Daniels has taken in much more money than Miller this year, and Friday night put Daniels well ahead following Cheney's visit. According to The Associated Press, Daniels and Kernan each began the year with about $4 million, while Miller had about $905,000. Kernan raised about $2 million more from January through April 9 and had about $4.7 million in cash on hand as of that reporting deadline. Daniels raised about $1.6 million more and had about $3 million on hand as of April 9. Miller took in another $150,000 and had about $387,000 left.\nDaniels served as White House budget director under President George W. Bush from January through June 2001. \nCheney was in Kansas at a campaign luncheon earlier Friday and flew to Indianapolis to speak at Daniels' dinner. \nCheney, who was the keynote speaker, talked about knowing Daniels and his work for President Bush. \n"With Mitch Daniels, the president signed into law significant tax breaks and put death tax on its way to extinction," Cheney said. "Last month, the economy created 30,000 new jobs. The American economy is moving in the right direction."\nCheney also said Daniels' experience at the White House groomed him to be Indiana's governor.\n"We need good partners at the state level and with a governor with free enterprise and low taxes, and that is the kind of governor that Mitch Daniels will be for Indiana," Cheney said. "We spent many hours with a superb budget director. He helped us with many budgets and numbers, and we didn't call him 'The Blade' for nothing."\nCheney also spoke about knowing Daniels' character and why his qualities will make him a good governor for Indiana.\n"It's a lot easier to go to functions like these when you know the guy," Cheney said. "I consider Mitch one of the best public servants I've ever worked with. … He's one of the best people for any job in any office in the country, but I can't wait 'til Inauguration Day, when Mitch Daniels is sworn in as governor of Indiana."\nIndiana Sen. Teresa Lubbers was also on hand to offer her thoughts on Daniels.\n"Daniels is qualified to be governor, he has the experience," Lubbers said. "It's not just what Mitch has done, but it's more importantly what Mitch will do. He believes in Hoosiers. If it weren't for the last 16 years, maybe we wouldn't be in the situation we find ourselves in now. This campaign is about ideas and getting Hoosiers to turn the state around, and no one is better than Mitch Daniels."\nDaniels introduced Cheney to the crowd of about 400, speaking about the vice president's background as one of the reasons Bush chose him for the position.\n"There was no better choice for vice president than Dick Cheney. Cheney was (Bush's) first choice. It wasn't chosen on the basis of geography or ideology," Daniels said. "Cheney was just the best person possible for the job. He is so utterly American."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.