IN OTHER WORDS, MITCH IS RUNNING:

Jeb Bush likes Mitch Daniels' 2012 prospects (Abel Harding on February 17, 2011, Jacksonville Times-Union)

"Mitch is the only one who sees the stark perils and will offer real detailed proposals," he said, speaking at a reception held before he took the stage in front of a crowd of real estate professionals.

Bush acknowledged that Daniels is absent the smooth, television-friendly delivery present in other hopefuls, but said voters were looking for a direct approach.

"He would be the anti-Obama, at least socially," Bush said. "He's not good on a teleprompter, but if my theory is right that could work well for him."

Republicans have been too cautious in the past, Bush said, and have shied away from needed reforms to entitlement programs. He listed the failure of Congress to act on partial privatization of Social Security, one of the programs favored by his brother, former President George W. Bush.

"Congress ran for cover when President Bush tried to implement reform," he said.

Citing the willingness of so-called "blue state governors," New York's Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey's Chris Christie, Bush said the public was demonstrating a yearning for full-scale change.