Governor Daniels at IUSB

Governor Daniels made a trip to IU South Bend recently to talk to a group of Business students. It was special invite only, but on the day of his visit, I asked the Dean of the business school if there were any tickets left. He said he did have one so I was able to go.

It was held in our smaller auditorium, so I was up pretty close. Daniels talked for a little bit about the state of the state, basically bragged on what a good job his administration has done and how we're in much better shape than other states (which we are). He then took quite a bit of time to field a number of questions from students, which he answered thoroughly. He was asked directly if he is running for President. Daniels said he's not "currently" running for President, but was straightforward that he hasn't decided one way or the other yet.

I was impressed by his demeanor the whole time he was here. When he entered the auditorium before the speech, he bypassed all the administrators and other dignitaries and went right to a group of students and began talking to them. The Business Dean later told me that he did the same thing when he arrived in his car. Basically ignored him and walked over to a group of students. I like that.

He didn't seem to be in political mode and was very down to earth and eager to talk to us common folk. But at the same time, he was all business. He didn't disguise his disappointment with Obama and his policies and said we're heading in the wrong direction with the current economic policies. Make no mistake, Daniels is all about running things efficiently and he says bigger government is definitely not the answer (he remarked that in Indiana we have 300+ school districts and that we could easily get by with 1/3 that many).

I'm not sure how well Daniels would do on the campaign trail for President, especially against a master campaigner like Obama. But, who know, maybe we'll find out someday.