« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

Daniels Led Bayh by 10 in NRSC Poll, Not Asked to Run

By: James Richardson (Diary)  |  February 5th, 2010 at 10:01 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels today promised to remain neutral in his state’s upcoming Republican Senate primary, but admitted to being “startled” by Coats’ surprise candidacy.

Former Senator Dan Coats is “just alarmed about the country, I can tell you that from talking to him,” Daniels said of Coats, who contacted the governor Monday about his potential challenge to Democratic Senator Evan Bayh.

Many Republicans criticized Coats’ candidacy as a recruiting failure for the NRSC, seemingly buttressed by Daniels’ admission today that, despite leading Bayh by 10 percentage-points in internal polling by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he was not approached about running.

Daniels, who many are hoping will consider a 2012 presidential bid, said he was also unsure who courted Coats.

“I was startled. And I don’t know, I don’t think any of us can tell how it works,” he said.

But Coats’ bid to unseat Bayh, who won the seat in 1998 after Coats retired, “wasn’t his idea,” according to Daniels, saying also, “he has no need to do this.”

Cross-posted to Skepticians.com.

Follow James on Twitter.

Tags: , , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • RedBeard

    They know what is best for us. Go back to sleep.

    • redstatesuccess

      While everyone else is scrambling to get on the bandwagon, conservative State Senator, Marlin Stutzman, led the charge against Bayh since summer of 2009.

      Stutzman has been a steady critic of Bayh’s flip-flopping and Bayh’s ignoring Hoosiers for his fellow DC elitists. Hoosiers need someone in touch with Indiana and someone who is a proven conservative leader, like Marlin Stutzman.

      PLEASE – Don’t let the RNC & NRSC put some DC tarp lobbyist in as our candidate against Bayh. We need CLEAR CONTRAST with Bayh, not nuances.

      For more info, please visit:

      http://GoMarlin.com

      • The_Gadfly

        groundwork by all means he should continue the principled fight for the nomination. But don’t drink the Dem koolaid on Coats. He’s got a lifetime ACU rating of 90% and is a solid conservative. Yes, he made a mistake in trying to push Myers for SCOTUS, but sometimes when the President calls you just do what you are asked to do.

  • dforston

    Daniels isn’t running for anything when his term as governor is up in 2012. He’s retiring and getting out of public life. He’s said so multiple times. He isn’t coy about it either. You can tell that he’s tired of politics and he wants to be with his family.

    • IJB

      People around here act like the campaign committees can just point people at races and get them to run like robots. Doesn’t work that way.

      • kuksool

        If Daniels wants out of politics in 2012, who going to replace Lugar?

        I see Daniels as the best canddiate to replace Lugar in the Senate when he reitires. If not Daniels, then Pence for Senate in 2012.

        As for taking on Bayh, perhaps Marlin Stutzman can do a Scott Borwn miracle and beat Bayh. Perrhaps we are better to nominate a blank slate to challenge Bayh.

        I’m impressed with the homework that Bayh has done. As soon as Dan Coats’s name was being floated, the Bayh quickly attacked him with Coats being a drug company lobbyst who lives in VA.

        • ilgop24

          2012 Senate candidate…lock.

          Don’t be so sure Mitch Daniels won’t toss his hat in the Presidential ring.

        • jfindl2

          She is the Lt Governor, she might go after it.

  • hickorystick

    The man (Coats) is concerned about the direction his country is going, so he decides to do something about it. Why should he wait for an anointed group of people to solicit or bless his run. Part of what we need to change the course of this country is to have good candidates to choose from at the primary. Was Coats asked to run, but Daniels not?
    Here in Washington State our Party was hurt by having the Officers promote one candidate, and the People wanting a different candidate. The Party skewed the rules to repress the Peoples (at this point many of the delegates) choice to argue for why a change was needed. By forbidding him to criticise the anointed one at the caucus it ended up all over the news and made the Republicans look like an exclusive and closed party.

  • AngryMatt

    But I wouldn’t blame him if he did. The man will be 62 in 2012 and he’s already had an illustrious career, giving us the governor’s mansion in Indiana for eight years after it being in Dem hands for the previous 16.

    Biggest problem is that a 60 year old is not exactly a “rising star.” I think he’d be a great candidate, especially in bad economic times, though I certainly hope and pray we’re doing just fine economically by 2012. Deficit and debt will almost assuredly be a problem come that time and while he might catch flak for being Bush’s budget guy in the early 2000s, his track record in Indiana is tough to beat.

    Daniels would basically be my #1 choice for president out of anybody out there. Serious, smart, down to earth and relatively unassuming. A guy with quiet confidence who just gets stuff done. He’s not Reagan, but I think the kind of leadership he provides in Indiana would perfectly suit a country that would still be scarred from the worst recession since the Depression. Like a new Calvin Coolidge.

  • Praying

    Like a microcosm of the problems with a big centralized government, the NRSC and other “party” organizations make assumptions that are often wrong and go against the will of the people. Candidates have to be “moderate” in order to win? Ha! That worked well in 2008. And look what we got instead – the most fanatical, left wing, radical progressive since Woodrow Wilson. That is why I will NEVER donate $$ to a national party organization – I actively seek out candidates who mirror my values and principles, and I donate directly to the candidate. Why should I support a huge bureaucracy that has so many times recently been totally out of touch with the people they presume to represent?

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      It’s an organization created by and for incumbents.

  • crosley

    So is Daniel’s saying he would have run for the Senate had he been asked, or that he was miffed that he wasn’t asked?

    If Daniels wanted to run (and I would have preferred him over Coats) he needed to step up to the plate and not wait for some organization to woo him. I have a hard time believing NO ONE asked him if he was interested in taking on Bayh. Daniels also has to know that the seat was his if he wanted it. A simple phone call indicating some interest in the race would have had the NRSC at his beck and call.

    I do agree though that the biggest problem with our situation in the Senate is lack of recruiting. There are far too many Red States being represented by liberal Democrats. There is absolutely no excuse for that, Republicans should have an easy, permanent majority in the Senate.

    • proudgop

      could take out Bayh but the open Lugar Seat is such easier road

      Taking out Bayh will be huge for us not only because of numbers but because he is always viewed as Pres/VPres contender for Dems and its either this year or we may be stuck with him for another 30 plus years in Senate seeing he is pretty young.

      • crosley

        big Republican names never take risks. It seems the most likely to win Republicans will never take on Democrat incumbents even if there’s only a remote chance they may lose.

        Our best “warriors” don’t want to go on the front lines of battle, they only want to fight an enemy that’s already been defeated.

        Daniels probably wanted to run against Bayh, but there was a 1 in 10 chance he might lose, so he chickened out. He probably was eyeing the Lugar seat, which would be an easy lay-up for when the time came.

        I give props to Coats for stepping up to the plate when all the big Republican names were too scared of Bayh.

  • rwb_hoosier

    Why would a governor, especially a highly successful and wildly popular governor quit to become a senator?

    I’m also being selfish as a hoosier. Daniels has done a lot to reverse the destruction caused by Bayh being our governor but there is stil more to fix here. The democrats are going to lose control of the house here this year and Daniels will finally fix the rest of the Bayh disasters.

    Coats can knock Bayh off if the stupid 100% republicans would shut up and help him out. Coats might not be the best choice for senator in the world, but he is the best choice to beat Bayh. What are we supposed to do? Sit around and wait for the perfect candidate and hand the seat back to Bayh?

    Our first mission is to get rid of the democrats. Then we can get rid of the moderate republicans and replace them with conservatives. But we shouldn’t lose everything because we are trying to get everything.

  • RINKER

    Wasn’t he Bush’s BUDGET director in the first term? The same BUDGET director who ramped up spending at record levels and didn’t cut any programs?

    I’m sorry, but if he wanted to run, he didn’t have to be courted. He’s a freaking governor. If you wanted the job, you should have run for it. Marco Rubio was anything but “courted”. He had the courage to run when the deck was stacked against him and is now leading.

    I’m a bit tired of all the second-guessing of Coats. The guy’s a SOLID conservative. Some people are just never happy.

    • toughintn

      I’m the first to say it’s important to have a Republican as governor in Indiana. But it’s also helpful to balance the occasional deification of Mitch Daniels with additional info from his resume.

      Mitch Daniels did say (in support of his pal John McCain — who Daniels endorsed above all others even BEFORE McCain had declared his candidacy) that it’s “‘time to let Ronald Reagan go.” I doubt Dan Coats would say that.

  • youthgrunt

    I have many thoughts on Mitch. First, he promised to serve out his term. If he were to go back on that promise, then what use is he? Second, he has stated many times publicly that he is not running for an additional office. Same question as #1. Third, the man is an administrator.

    He ran the budget office (where, RINKER, he was known as “the knife”–his reputation was keeping the budget under control not bloating it). But before that he was an administrator in the operations arm of Eli Lilly. I think Mitch would HATE being a legislator. As an administrator he sets the agenda and provides the direction for legislators to follow. He is a “get things done” person. Does that sound like the Senate?

    Fourth, by moving to the Senate it would appear that he was jumping ship when things were difficult. He has done a lot to manage Indiana through a difficult financial situation–better than most other states in the U.S. (once again, RINKER, by slashing the budget by executive fiat). Indiana needs him. The Senate, quite frankly, does not. We can argue about 2012 when we are a bit closer to that.

    Personally, I would like to see him run the GOP when he is finished with being governor.

  • qurys

    So Daniels was not “asked” to run. If he wanted to run….this is America right? So Coats doesn’t “need” to run….according to Daniels.
    Maybe Coats needs to run for America….not for himself.
    And why are we waiting for the RNC or the DNC for that matter, to annoint candidates for us from their shopping bag of moderates and incumbents and RINOs. Are there no conservative citizens with ethics and morals who don’t consistently cheat on their wives, embezzle from their companies, or succumb to bribery left in this country?