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INDIANAPOLIS – Former Vice President Dan Quayle thinks it might be fun for Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels to take his Mitch-mobile to Iowa and New Hampshire during a run for the presidency.
"Who knows? 2012 is going to be wide open," the Huntington native said while visiting the Indiana Statehouse last week. "He’d certainly be fully qualified, very competitive. He could possibly be the nominee."
But Quayle also said, "if (Daniels) wants to run for president, I think that would be a good idea."
Of course, the governor famously announced in his last television ad during the 2008 gubernatorial race that he would never run for office again.
Since then, he has repeated the promise to state, local and national media.
That hasn’t stopped the speculation, though. Even Quayle noticed that Daniels has been getting some good publicity and press lately.
"But we’re way ahead of ourselves," he said. "(Daniels) is focused on what he is doing here in Indiana."
The former V.P. also said he continues to have a great relationship with 41 – former President George H.W. Bush.
And he noted that he recently turned down an invitation to appear on "Dancing with the Stars."
"My mother called me up and told me I was not a good dancer," Quayle said. "I listen to my mother."
In a political shocker during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, the former head of the national Democratic Party under President Bill Clinton switched his allegiance from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Barack Obama.
Joe Andrew, an Allen County native who headed the state Democratic Party a decade ago, said he didn’t speak to the Clinton campaign before announcing his change of heart.
Thursday, President Obama nominated Andrew’s wife, energy and environment lawyer Anne Slaughter Andrew, to be ambassador to Costa Rica. Her new boss? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The effort to bring casino gambling to Fort Wayne just got a new opponent – Eric Miller and his socially conservative group Advance America.
Miller – who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2004 – sent out an e-mail alert last week urging his members to fight against a casino in Fort Wayne.
Advance America is a grassroots pro-family, pro-church, pro-tax-overhaul group with thousands of members statewide.
The e-mail informed citizens of a hearing at 10 a.m. Monday in Room 431 of the Statehouse and urged citizens to testify against the measure. Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry has sought a referendum on whether gambling should be allowed in Fort Wayne.
"One of the problems with a referendum involves the opportunity for the supporters of a casino to spend thousands and thousands of dollars in a media campaign in support of a casino for Fort Wayne," the e-mail said.
"The key to helping Indiana economically now and in the future is to create an atmosphere where good-paying jobs are created and retained. More gambling is not the answer!"
New Haven City Council President Harold West had harsh words for city residents last week.
Reading from a four-page statement during Tuesday’s council meeting, West said he was ashamed of the behavior of some residents during the monthlong Jury Pool remonstrance. The signature-gathering phase of the remonstrance wrapped up Tuesday.
The campaign’s tactics were destructive and created a rift in the community that may never heal, he said.
Accusations against both sides included theft of signs, pressure tactics, spread of misleading information, and fights over the use of shopping center parking lots as petition-gathering locations – all efforts to gain an edge in the signature campaign.
The campaigns spent more money on signs and literature than they would pay for several years’ worth of extra property taxes if the bond issue is approved, West said.
West questioned whether the community would be willing to go through the same bitter debate in a few years to pay for a community center. He also repeated that if the Jury Pool project is defeated, the park board should close the pool permanently.
"It should have been a free and open process, and it’s been corrupted by whomever. It infuriates me," he said.
Sylvia A. Smith and Amanda Iacone of The Journal Gazette contributed to this column.
