AND HE CAN ACTUALLY WIN BOTH IA AND NH:

All the signs point to a Daniels bid for president (Matthew Tully, September 10, 2010, Indianapolis Star)

Daniels is running for president.

Let me make clear that I am not basing this statement on inside information from his political advisers. Rather, I'm relying on the old "if-it-quacks-like-a-duck-it's-a-duck" theory. Or, if you prefer, the classic "I know it when I see it" lesson the Supreme Court taught us about obscenity. Same goes for presidential wannabes.

Daniels, of course, insists he has only cracked open the door to a run, and that he's done that only to appease his supporters. Time and again, he has said he is not running.

But he is.

He's running for president on the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal and in the studios of Fox News. He's running for president during political appearances from Mississippi to Ohio. And he's running for president every time he inserts himself into the national political debate.

At this point, the only things missing are a book detailing his "vision for America" and those trips to Iowa and New Hampshire we know will eventually come.

This isn't to say Daniels will be on the primary ballot come early 2012. Instead, it means he is doing what people who want to be president do: putting himself and his ideas out there to see whether he strikes a chord with a sizable chunk of Republican voters, thinkers, donors and power players.