Did Indiana Republicans vote for challenger Richard Mourdock or against incumbent Richard Lugar in their primary election for a U.S. Senate seat?It’s hard to tell, because voters don’t have to give a reason.Gov. Mitch Daniels started repeating his State of the State speech in Washington on Friday, then launched into what sounded like a presidential campaign platform.
Appearing before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Daniels drew applause, cheers and whistles for his call to defeat “the new Red Menace, this one consisting of ink.”
Comparing the dangers of deficit spending to the past threat of communism, Daniels declared, “Our morbidly obese federal government needs not just behavior modification but bariatric surgery.”
After touting his policies as a two-term Republican governor of Indiana, Daniels offered a laundry list of remedies for the growing federal deficit and national debt: Social Security and Medicare benefits based on financial and medical need, a flat income tax, a moratorium on new regulations and unfettered energy production.
“Treat domestic energy production as the economic necessity it is and the job creator it can be,” he said. “Drill and frack and lease and license, unleash in every way the jobs potential in the enormous energy resources we have been denying ourselves. … It is freedom and its fruits that enable the steady progress we have made in preserving and protecting God’s kingdom.”
Daniels was among several potential presidential candidates appearing at this week’s CPAC, sponsored by the American Conservative Union. Like most others, he failed to make mention of ongoing political upheaval in Egypt.
Daniels also avoided social and cultural issues. His plea last year for a “truce” on such divisive topics as abortion rights and gay marriage has been derided by social conservative groups, a half-dozen of which boycotted this year’s CPAC, attended by about 10,000 people.
Daniels was introduced by columnist and commentator George Will, who lauded Daniels’ record as governor – Will said Indiana has the lowest property taxes in the nation – and branding the Hoosier’s politics as “conservatism for grown-ups.”
Daniels talked about cutting taxes, introducing health savings accounts, expanding school choice and privatizing the Indiana Toll Road in his home state.
On the national front, he said the national debt “is our generational assignment. It is the mission of our era.”
About the only time he mentioned President Obama by name was to scold him for a “regulatory rainforest.”
“Today’s EPA should be renamed the Employment Prevention Agency,” Daniels quipped about the Environmental Protection Agency.
“A moratorium on new regulation is a minimal suggestion; better yet, move at least temporarily to a self-certification regime that lets America build and expand and explore now and settle up later in those few instances where someone colors outside the lines,” he said.
He softened his tone later, saying, “We must display a heart for every American and a special passion for those still on the first rung of life’s ladder.” He also said, “We should address ourselves to young America at every opportunity.”
But still later, he said, “Our opponents are better at nastiness than we will ever be. It comes naturally.”
CPAC winds up today with a presidential straw poll. Among the contenders are Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Donald Trump.
In a straw poll among New Hampshire Republicans last month won by Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, Daniels finished well back in the pack with 3 percent of the ballots.
