Haley Barbour won’t run for president. So… will Mitch Daniels? I hope so! Barbour and Daniels are close friends, and they share many of the same establishment, big-money type supporters, so the assumption has been that they wouldn’t both run. Well, the ball’s in your court, Mitch!
As I’ve said before, Daniels articulates a lot of conservatism’s good ideas without a lot of its bulls**t (and without, in this admitted concern troll’s judgment, being a RINO like Huntsman). I certainly don’t agree with him on everything, by any stretch. But, as I wrote in that earlier post, “America needs someone like Mitch Daniels to carry the conservative flag. An honest, sane, grownup representative of true conservative ideas. An election between him and Obama would be a real choice.” It’s even conceivable I might choose to vote for him!
Okay, probably not. I’m left of center, as has been well established. I’m 3-for-3 voting for Democrats for president. But me crossing party lines and voting for Daniels is certainly more likely than if Obama’s opponent is the Generic Republican or the Republican John Kerry or one of the wingnuts. In an Obama-Daniels race, I’d really need to listen closely to what each side is saying, and search my own beliefs to try and figure out who I should support. To make an analogy to that map I linked earlier, I’d enter the race personally shaded light blue instead of dark blue, so to speak.
Run, Mitch, run!
Barbour must have realized that at a superficial level, the “optics” of a deep southerner with his accent running against a black man are not favorable.
Barbour also has some pretty controversial statements he has to explain…it is a shame, but he has no chance at a national office.
Yessuh, ol’ Haley jes’ read the writin’ on the wall & it said, “Who y’all kiddin’?” Beauty may have killed the Beast but it was the South Carolina poll numbers drove old Dixie down. / A fond farewell to thee, Magnolia Blossom. All us Connecticut Yankees will surely shed a mighty tear. ;>