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Originally Posted by Beemnseven
That's not quite true. Apart from perhaps Haley Barbour, the people you listed didn't run because they didn't want to. In the case of Mitch Daniels, it was his family that persuaded him not to make a run for it.
Campaigning for president is a life-altering event that takes enormous time away from your family. Sometimes winning the presidency doesn't even make it worth running.
It's quite a stretch to claim that they refused to run because they don't think they can beat Barack Obama.
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On the contrary, I do think that was the ultimate deciding factor. Of course family is always a consideration as it should be. With the exception of Senator John Thune, they all criss-crossed the country and openly flirted with the possibility of running for president. Chris Christie just gave a big speech at the Reagan library two weeks ago and strung the media along for months before finally saying no. Bottom line, it just wasn't there. Same with Palin, same with Huckabee. Mitch Daniels said his family was the ultimate factor, but he didn't seem to have the fire either.
The point I'm making is, I've heard them all give substantive TV interviews about what they would do to change the direction of the country; that Obama could be beaten and he's a one term president. But when opportunity came knocking, they didn't have the guts to put skin in the game and back it up.