Chris Christie

Even after weeks of fevered divination and his Sermon on the Mount at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in September, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie isn’t running for President. His past statements were definitive even for the realm of politics, where a denial is sometimes just the first flirtatious glance of the courting process. “Short of suicide, I don’t really know what I’d have to do to convince you people that I’m not running,” he told reporters last November, one of countless abnegations he’s issued in the last year. “I’m not running.” Perhaps his drawn-out announcement on Tuesday that “now is not my time” will buy him a few weeks of respite from rabid reporters and dissatisfied donors eager to see him run.
Mitch Daniels

Last year, fiscal hawks and Beltway pundits alike swooned at Indiana Governor and former Bush budget director Mitch Daniels’ call for a “truce” on social issues, a proposed ceasefire in the culture war that would allow a reeling nation to focus on its debts and deficits. Countless columns sought to draft Daniels for President, but alas, it was not to be. Just a few months after his rousing speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February sent a record number of D.C. scribes to their fainting couches, Daniels announced that he would not seek the White House, citing “the interests and wishes of my family.” As it turned out, the press’s adoration was unrequited. Daniels and his wife Cheri reportedly decided against a run in part to avoid media scrutiny of their rocky marital history.












