Mitch Daniels for President

As some of you know, I've been a big fan of Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, and think he would make a great Republican Presidential candidate in 2012. The big issue with his campaign, though, has always been that he's been very reticent about running, citing family issues. These can be serious, as we found out with Colin Powell. Still, you don't make it as a two-term Governor without a little bit of political ambition.

He's been playing this very smartly too. He came out against the stimulus, but in a more principled and soft-spoken way than Perry and Sanford and the rest. He's been against the Health Bill, but again on very general grounds. He's been making his media appearances and WSJ op-eds. He already has a compelling story and record; this helps prepare some of the groundwork, much as Romney did his time appealing to evangelicals. But doing so in an off-key manner allows you to come in a little later, with far fewer negatives and with more of a post-partisan Obama feel. Jindal should be taking notes.

Anyway, now you're starting to read stuff like this:

Still, despite the dominance of the big three likely presidentials, some in the GOP are hoping for a new conservative face, particularly one being pushed by the activists who attended spring antitax tea parties and flooded summer town halls to demand a halt to government expansion. And for them, insiders say, that could be Daniels, the fiscal conservative and rare Republican governor to win re-election in a state President Obama won in 2008. We hear he's serious about considering a 2012 entry, so much so that he's consulting with some of those who once sat in the White House, like former Vice President Dan Quayle, also a Hoosier.

I suppose I should highlight why this is a good idea: Daniels has turned Indiana around; attracting jobs, balancing the budget, and reforming government. He has good ideas on transportation, healthcare, and education. This is exactly the sort of working-class agenda that can appeal to dying rust-belt states. Even if you're not a Republican, you know they have to win at some point, so it's better to have the party be functional. Nominating a no-nonsense technocrat would go a long way towards erasing the stains of fiscal irresponsibility and incompetence after Bush, and frankly would be exactly what the country needs after several rounds of bipartisan binge spending.

And no; Sarah Palin will not win the nomination. Zero chance.