OK, he didn’t actually say anything about Herman Cain:
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told supporters in an email early Sunday that he will not run for president in 2012, a decision he said ultimately came down to his family’s reticence about a campaign.
The announcement by the former Office of Management and Budget director and favorite of much of the Republican establishment will again roil the unsettled GOP field — and likely intensify efforts to convince another major candidate to join the race, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Dear God, please not Jeb Bush! But you see the pattern: Barbour quit, Trump quit, Huckabee quit and now Daniels quits, while Herman Cain — the man who all the pundits say can’t win — just keeps going and going.
(Via Memeorandum.)
UPDATE: Jazz Shaw and Ed Morrissey ponder the imponderables.
UPDATE II: Some commenters at Hot Air were not impressed with Cain’s performance on “Fox News Sunday”:
Chris Wallace: “What would president Cain offer the Palestinians to make peace?”
Herman Cain: “Nothing. Because I’m not convinced the Palestinians are really interested in peace. If the Palestinians comje to the table with Israel with a genuine offer that the two of them can sit down and negotiate, the United States would, in fact, facilitate that discussion. But if we look at history, it has been clear that the Palestinians have always wanted to push the Israelis, and push Israel, for more and more and more. I don’t agree with that, and I respect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or taking a stand and saying they cannot give that up.”
Criticize that however you wish, Cain’s strong pro-Israel position aligns very closely with the views of most Republican primary voters.
UPDATE III: A pity party for the GOP Establishment:
Mitch Daniels’s overnight decision against a presidential bid will immediately raise the volume on the low-hum grumbling among Republican insiders that they’re gearing up to face President Obama with the weakest primary field in recent memory.
The pressure on a handful of Republicans who’ve insisted they won’t consider running but would be potentially strong alternatives to Mitt Romney will now significantly intensify, but the ultimate beneficiaries of Daniels’s absence may be two candidates already on course to run: Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman.
At the moment, though, the Indiana governor’s exit illustrates the degree to which the GOP race is being shaped by who’s not running.
Consider the list of would-be candidates who’ve passed on a campaign in the last four months: Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and now Daniels.
Add Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan and Rick Perry – Republicans with star power who’ve said flatly they won’t run – and it translates into a GOP establishment deeply worried that the flawed options they’re left with won’t be any match for an incumbent president who seemingly won’t face a primary but is likely to shatter campaign fundraising records.
The discomfiture of “Republican insiders” is a very good thing. Can we get a show of hands of anybody who thinks “Republican insiders” (you know, the guys who backed Dede Scozzafava and Charlie Crist) have a clue as to how to win elections? Anybody?
Linked by Marfdrat and Scared Monkeys — thanks!
UPDATE IV: Just a Conservative Girl has video of Cain’s Saturday announcement rally, and Left Coast Rebel comments:
So on a 90 degree Saturday in Hotlanta, Herman Cain drew 10,000 – 15,000 supporters. I’d say that’s not bad for a “long shot” presidential candidate ? particularly considering the fact that the crowd came out to hear Cain officially announce what he had already officially announced that he would officially announce…
How big have your crowds been lately, Mitt?
Good question.
