INDIANAPOLIS – Congressman Mike Pence’s goal if elected governor is to “build an even better Indiana.”
How to get there, though, will take some time to formulate.
Pence said Friday he will take the next 11 months – starting with today’s formal campaign kickoff celebration in Columbus – to travel the state and listen to Hoosiers. Then, if he wins the Republican nomination in May, he will begin to articulate specific policy initiatives.
“I think elections should be about ideas,” he said, noting he believes in servant leadership. “A servant-leader says you listen before you leap.”
Pence faces Hamilton County businessman Jim Wallace in the primary. On the Democratic side, former House speaker John Gregg is considered the front-runner, though southern Indiana businessman Thomas Lenfert just this week entered the race.
Today’s kickoff is expected to draw hundreds and include all the pomp and circumstance of a major political event.
But Pence met with reporters separately Friday at the Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor just blocks away from where he grew up.
He acknowledged that running for governor will be third in his list of priorities, behind his family and serving in Congress.
“I remain convinced that we can do our duty for Indiana in Washington, D.C., in the next year and a half, and deliver our message and organize our campaign across the state of Indiana for November 2012.”
Pence was first elected to represent the 6th Congressional District in 2000, and is now in his sixth term.
Since he announced in May, he has made time in his schedule to campaign on weekends and during House recesses – speaking at about 18 Republican Lincoln Day dinners in Indiana.
He promised that his family – including wife Karen – will be heavily involved in the campaign.
“Get used to seeing a lot of Mrs. Pence,” he said. “We’ve always campaigned as a team together.”
And he noted his children, ages 16, 17 and 19, also will participate in a campaign that will include going door to door and neighborhood to neighborhood.
Pence’s means of travel is still up for debate.
His wife is a pilot but he said his bet is that he’ll be spending more time in a pickup truck than an airplane.
His preferred vehicle would be a motorcycle, but Karen Pence has blocked that dream.
“I grew up on ’em, and I haven’t been able to close that sale since I got married,” Pence said.
