The only really half-sane alternative to Mitt Romney couldn’t convince his wife and kids to take on the burden of the limelight in exchange for seeing their father get an ass-whupping from the Obama-Biden 2012 campaign. Mitch Daniels is out. Here’s what Cillizza has to say:
Of late, there seemed to be a sort of rallying around Daniels from the political establishment with people like House Speaker John Boehner and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie praising his record as governor. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a one-time 2012 aspirant himself, urged Daniels to make the race.
Daniels’ appeal was as a sober voice of reason in a party that had been dominated by sideshows — like the potential candidacy of businessman Donald Trump — in the early days of the 2012 election.
A quick perusal around the righty blogosphere indicates that the alternative to Daniels is either T-Paw (because he’s not Romney) or Herman Cain (because he’d prove they aren’t racist the same way Clarence Thomas did). I note, for the record, that the small but building buzz for Herman Cain that arose after the South Carolina debate has been doused by Charles Krauthammer’s assertion that Cain is just the minstrel portion of the show. Sometimes a little honesty is refreshing. Thanks, Charles.
Which leaves T-Paw. T-Paw and Romney. But with T-Paw endorsing crazy economic policies like the flat-tax and a return to the Gold Standard (a mix of Steve Forbes and Ron Paul, and just as viable with the suits) the Republican Money Establishment is pretty much forced to look to Romney. Here’s the thing about that though; the whole reason everyone coalesced around Mitch Daniels is that they realized that they can’t sell Romney to their base. So, either they double down on Romney and create a real fissure among their activists and within their media machine, or they try to get T-Paw to stop pandering to Ron Paul’s base. Or they hope for a brokered convention where they can pluck some Eisenhower out of thin air to save the day.