Gov. Daniels seen as presidential material for 2012

Another group of Ivy League students created an initiative spreading coast to coast. It’s not another Facebook idea. It’s a mission to get Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to run for president of the United States.

Yale University senior Max Eden and three of his friends founded the independent grassroots campaign Student Initiative to Draft Daniels last semester to encourage Daniels to seek the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election.

“We believe he not only would be the best candidate for the Republican nomination, but that he will get it,” Student Initiative Political Director and Yale junior Michael Knowles said.

The Student Initiative began as an online campaign asking visitors to sign an online petition and promoting its YouTube video.

After Student Initiative posted its video, the media began to pick up on the student group, and momentum to encourage Daniels to run for president began to build, Knowles said.

So far, the Student Initiative to Draft Daniels has established chapters at 40 colleges across the country, including IU.

The fact that Daniels has gone from saying he won’t run for president to saying he’s open to the idea and will give his answer after the state’s legislative session ends is encouraging, Knowles said.

“As soon as a candidate is asked and they start getting coy then you know they’re probably strongly toying with the running,” IU political science professor Gerald Wright said.

But is the rather reluctant Daniels really going to seek the Republican nomination?
Throughout 2010 and continuing into 2011, political analysts within national news organizations have sized up the 5-foot-7, two-term governor to be a possible frontrunner for the GOP.

One topic commentators have touched on regarding Daniels’ possible weakness: his height and charisma or lack there-of.

Newsweek’s Andrew Romano wrote that even if Daniels were to win the Republican nomination, his chances of defeating Obama in the general election would be low.

“At 5 feet 7 (in boots), Daniels is shorter than Obama’s 12-year-old daughter, Malia,” Romano wrote. “His rather uninspiring demeanor — reticent, stiff and slightly skittish, with darting eyes and long blanks between his words — better suits a former director of the Office of Management and Budget … than the leader of the free world.”

With his noted physical characteristics and quiet demeanor, Daniels may have trouble inspiring some voters, Wright said. 

Daniels is not a strong charismatic speaker, but if he were, his height would not matter, he said.

“With both combined, he may have trouble getting beyond those people who agree with him on ideological or his political grounds,” Wright said. “There’s a great middle of people who look at candidates and sort of give a personal measure, and I think he may have a harder time with some of that middle group.”

Daniels has mostly been noticed for is his fiscal conservatism. 

This characteristic even goes back to the days when he served as the director of the OMB with President George W. Bush, where he earned the nickname “The Blade” for his spending cuts.

Conservative supporters and the governor himself have been quick to point out the success of changing a $600 million state-wide deficit to a $370 million surplus within his first year as governor.

“He is the only Republican in the prospective field willing to break with traditional dogma and say what needs to be said to save our country from the impending fiscal crisis,” Eden said in a press release.

Daniels’ policy background could make him stand out from the other potential candidates.

“I mean, he really is a problem solver and I think that’s why he would want to be president and wanted to be governor. He’s good about working with the other party and he is an effective problem solver,” Wright said. “If that can appeal to the party or the ideologs outdo themselves, then he might be able to slip in.”

Although Daniels’ fiscal conservatism is considered to be one of his strongest attributes to some, others say his hyper-focus on fiscal issues could be his weakness as a presidential candidate.

“Mitch Daniels’ biggest problem isn’t his height. His weakness is also his strength — a laser-like focus on fiscal reform,” Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin wrote. “As a GOP candidate, he will be expected to opine and appeal to the base on social issues and explain his national security vision.”

It was when Daniels told The Weekly Standard last summer that the next president should call a “truce” on social issues until the national deficit is fixed that indicated he could have trouble convincing the conservative base, particularly social conservatives.

IU Student Initiative chapter chairman and Indiana Daily Student opinion columnist Justin Kingsolver said he agrees with Daniels on this point.

“Although 90 percent of campaigning is based on social issues, 90 percent of governing is based on economic issues,” Kingsolver said. “Daniels is saying, ‘Let’s just take a break for a little bit with the social issues debate. Let’s not talk about abortion with every bill that comes up. Let’s not talk about gay marriage every week. We need to focus on fixing the economy and then talk about social issues.’”

Despite all of the speculation, all we can do is wait for Daniels to finally answer the question.

“It will come either the last two or three days of March or April. If he doesn’t say by April 30, I doubt he’s running,” Kingsolver said. “When the state legislature adjourns, then he starts thinking about Mitch Daniels running for president.”