Indiana governor Mitch Daniels said Monday he would have backed a presidential campaign headed by Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, who announced Monday he will not seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
“Haley Barbour is a great citizen; he’d have made a great president,” Mr. Daniels, a potential Republican presidential candidate, said in a statement. “I’d have been proud to try to help him had he chosen to run.”
The Indiana Republican, who has said he will announce in the coming weeks whether he plans to seek the Republican nomination, had said in the past that he would not run if Mr. Barbour entered the race. Mr. Daniels is now seen as the more viable candidates between the two. Political pundits say they now expect Mr. Daniels to enter the race.
Mr. Barbour announced Monday that he will not seek the Republican nomination, stunning those close to the Republican governor. Sources close to Mr. Barbour, who had spent the past months meeting with potential supporters and Republican leaders, say he did not think the timing was right.
