INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday that it won’t be long before he makes a decision on whether he’ll run for president in 2012.
Daniels said he doesn’t have a timetable for announcing the decision once it’s made, and that he’s really only focused his attention on the issue since the legislative session ended in late April.
“It’s only been a couple of weeks,” Daniels said. “I’ll decide pretty quickly.”
Political observers are watching Daniels’ every move for signs of a possible decision. Some recently speculated on Twitter that he would run, which Daniels seemed to find surprising Tuesday.
“I don’t Twitter so I wonder who made the decision,” Daniels said. “It didn’t start with me, obviously.”
Daniels also laughed at speculation that he would announce his plans at the Indianapolis 500 or sometime after the May 29 race.
“I don’t have a fixed date,” Daniels said before speaking at a meeting of Indiana state agency officials to review state government performance.
“I’m not going to take much longer with it,” he added.
Daniels said the fact that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, another possible Republican presidential contender, raised more than $10 million in a single day Monday doesn’t add to the pressure on him.
“I guarantee you that if we did it, I think we’d have the best letterhead and plenty of money,” Daniels said. “I just don’t think these things get settled by money. … I think it’s going to be a lot more about the quality of ideas.”
The former White House budget director is being widely recruited by Republicans who hope his fiscal conservatism would appeal to voters alarmed by the national debt and big government. Daniels has said his chief concern about a possible run is the impact a run and possible presidency would have on his family, including his wife, Cheri, and four grown daughters.
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