there was a big speech this week by daniels of indiana, not governor mitch daniels. but his wife, cheri daniels who spoke to the party. it turns out -- i must say, i didn't know this. she divorced her husband back in the '90s, left him with their four daughters to marry someone else and remarried him three years later. here is what she had to say about the process of deciding whether her husband will run for president. >> i don't think it can be done without everybody's support. this is something we're talking about a lot. our whole family is involved. of course, they'll continue to be involved. >> chris: what do you make of the daniels soap opera? >> he may be undecided. his sense of himself is not how high of the office he holds. if he gets in, he will be a fierce competitor, but i'm not sure the decision is yet made. i do think that the speech made by his wife, so conspicuously with people believing that she may be resisting his running is perhaps a sign that she's behind him. but i think, you know, we don't know yet. i'm not sure he knows yet. >> do you think thi

. >>> a no-go for mitch daniels in 2012. the indiana governor says he will not seek the republican presidential nomination. in a late-night e-mail to supporters, daniels said, "if you feel that this was a non-courageous or unpatriotic decision, i understand and will not attempt to persuade you otherwise. i only hope that you will accept my sincerity in the judgment i reached." we'll talk presidential politics later this hour with former house majority leader dick armey and former joe biden chief of staff, ron clain. >>> later today the astronauts of the e"endeavour" spacewalk will speak to students at an arizona school. >>> the u.s. enlisted the islamabad government to track down and uncover terrorists and their plots inside pakistan. to aid in the effort as as an incentive, the u.s. ha is given pakistan some $20 billion in u.s. taxpayer money since 2001. so when u.s. forces found and killed osama bin laden in a house outside islamabad where he had reportedly been living for five years twhere were big questions. there still

here's david kerley. >> reporter: mitch daniels says it is family first, and his wife and four daughters vetoed a presidential run. "i find myself caught between two duties. i love my country. i love my family more." a disappointment for prominent republicans. laura bush had called daniels' wife, encouraging a run. his exit is likely to help tim pawlenty who will announce tomorrow morning that he's running. and how strange is this? mike huckabee interviewing pawlenty about whether he with win early primaries. >> you have to do well or win one of those early states. and i don't think it's one in particular, but you have to win one of them pretty quickly. >> reporter: mitt romney, leading in the polls and the most recognizable candidate, was in south carolina this weekend, where he performed poorly in 2008. >> i don't think our president respects the states like i do. >> reporter: recent polls show that nearly half of republican voters are not happy with their potential candidates. but comedians are. >> the republicans are really scrambling now. they're really backs to the wall, looking fo

i talked to people close to mitch daniels. they think it's more likely than not that he's going to run. but real reservations from his wife and children. we don't know -- nobody knows how that decision will come out yet. >> which candidate has the most to lose if daniels does jump in. >> mitt romney. mitt romney is more likely than not in this republican field right now, you probably have two people who have a real shot at being both nominated and elected. that's mitt romney and tim pawlenty. newt gingrich has a low ceiling of support. a lot of people don't know him and don't like him. if mitch daniels got in his face, that's a real threat to the other two candidates because he's somebody that doesn't have the same kind of baggage that other candidates have. he could rally a lot of the bush forces behind him. a lot of the bush political strategists believe he would be the strongest candidate. the question is, does he have the commitment and the determination and the consent from his family to do that? >> starting to get intere

> mitch daniels said i promise it won't take me very long. it's only been a couple of weeks since the end of the indiana legislature. i do think we'll hear from him in the next week or two. about a decision here. every day i think that the odd's makers can come up with a different answer of what they think he's going to do. michelle bachman the congresswoman from minnesota is is a natural fit for the huckabee voter world. she has iowa roots. she's from there. she could make a very strong play amongst the caucus goers in iowa. she's somebody to watch. her aides are saying she's all about certain to get into the race. >> ifill: she can easily differentiate herself not only on gender but also on politics. >> no doubt about it. she is the head of the tea party caucus in the congress. she is the representative of this new sort of virulent strand of politics going on inside the republican party. certainly on gender also. she'll obviously look different than anybody else on that debate stye. she'll get a lot of attention. >> ifill: david chalian, as

> mitch daniels said i promise it won't take me very long. it's only been a couple of weeks since the end of the indiana legislature. i do think we'll hear from him in the next week or two. about a decision here. every day i think that the odd's makers can come up with a different answer of what they think he's going to do. michelle bachman the congresswoman from minnesota is is a natural fit for the huckabee voter world. she has iowa roots. she's from there. she could make a very strong play amongst the caucus goers in iowa. she's somebody to watch. her aides are saying she's all about certain to get into the race. >> ifill: she can easily differentiate herself not only on gender but also on politics. >> no doubt about it. she is the head of the tea party caucus in the congress. she is the representative of this new sort of virulent strand of politics going on inside the republican party. certainly on gender also. she'll obviously look different than anybody else on that debate stage. she'll get a lot of attention. >> ifill: david chalian, a

> mitch daniels said i promise it won't take me very long. it's only been a couple of weeks since the end of the indiana legislature. i do think we'll hear from him in the next week or two. about a decision here. every day i think that the odd's makers can come up with a different answer of what they think he's going to do. michelle bachman the congresswoman from minnesota is is a natural fit for the huckabee voter world. she has iowa roots. she's from there. she could make a very strong play amongst the caucus goers in iowa. she's somebody to watch. her aides are saying she's all about certain to get into the race. >> ifill: she can easily differentiate herself not only on gender but also on politics. >> no doubt about it. she is the head of the tea party caucus in the congress. she is the representative of this new sort of virulent strand of politics going on inside the republican party. certnly gender also. she'll obviously look different than anybody else on that debate stage. she'll get a lot of attention. >> ifill: david chalian, as alw

i'm sorry that mitch daniels is not going to run. i think he would have been a good candidate but i certainly understand the family considerations involved. i'm excited. i also would say it seems to me the real action is on the hill right now. and the real action is whether or not you will see leaders like senator mcconnell, boehner and paul ryan really hold the president accountable for spending cuts in exchange for the debt limit. >> chris: all right. let's go back to the 2012 race, juan. i want to ask you about john huntsman, former governor of utah. just stepped down from a couple of years as the obama ambassador to china. i think it's fair to say he has zero name recognition. but white house officials seem to take him seriously as a potential contender. should they? >> well, they have to take him seriously, because he would appeal to the middle. but the problem is he is not -- he is running in a republican primary he has to appeal to tea party types in iowa. he has to make an impression with social conservatives. he just doesn't

daniels so there are still a lot of uncertainty in the air so that they can get this debate matter yet the idea that this debate didn't matter and that somehow this. somebody is in position to unilaterally declare this the b. team is to use to favorite word preposterous and this was obviously an interesting debate and a matter for the first time and you know there are some of us who will not forget this that the first time we ever heard drug legalization openly discussed by two different candidates the first time we heard ending the warfare state discussed by two different candidates the first time we heard ending the federal reserve and drawing down the troops from afghanistan and iraq was at a republican debate and that is obviously important if the republicans don't realize that's important they're even more out to lunch than i think what do you think right on if you have a point. yeah i think that the tenor of the republican party has changed pretty markedly over the last few years there were many senses in which president bush represented an outlier when president bush was first e

daniels wrote we believe a right to resist and off whole police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with a modern fourth amendment jurisprudence and a dissenting opinion just as bob walker appointed by democratic governor frank o'bannon in ninety nine wrote the physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the fourth amendment is directed it is breathtaking that the majority deems that appropriate or even necessary to erode this constitutional protection so why are all of a sudden judges adding up our rights to privacy in our own what's going on here here to discuss this issue is cliff schecter progressive p.r. strategist and author of the book the real mccain conservatives don't trust him and why independents shouldn't cliff welcome back to the program thanks so much time how are you i am great i hope you're well the fourth amendment of the united states constitution is one sentence it says the right of the people to be secure in their persons houses papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures will not be by a

the corps by republican governor mitch daniels wrote we believe a right to resist and awful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with a modern fourth amendment jurisprudence in the dissenting opinion just as bob rocker pointed by democratic governor frank o'bannon in ninety nine wrote the physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the fourth amendment is directed it is breathtaking that the majority deems it appropriate or even necessary to erode this constitutional protection so why are all of a sudden judges acting up our rights to privacy in our own oh let's go around here here to discuss this issue is cliff schecter recipe our strategist and author of the book the real mccain conservatives don't trust him and why independents shouldn't cliff welcome back to the program thanks so much time how are you i am great i hope you're well the fourth amendment of the united states constitution is one sentence it says the right of the people to be secure in their persons houses papers and effects against unreasonable searches and s

>> well, let's talk a little bit about mitch daniels, the governor of indiana. >> okay. >> we've had a lot of heat in this republican race, in case you haven't noticed, over the last couple of weeks. we've also had some dropouts. mike huckabee and donald trump not running that person seems to be the governor of indiana, mitch daniels, somebody with a lot of washington experience and there's a feeling that he's about to announce any time soon. he told the indianapolis star on tuesday, i'm not going to take much longer. i spoke with somebody who is a friend of his who said, he's gone radio silent on me. he's thinking that is a sign that an announcement is coming soon and he's kind of a wanky guy but they think it will be time for a wonk. who knows. >> what else have you got? >> the question again about mitch daniels, whether he's too moderate because he famously gave a speech to the conservative action here in action and he was talking to people who are largely concerned with social issues in the republican party and what he was saying to them, right now we've got to focus on these iss

individual independe indiana governor mitch daniels said he will not pursue the republican nomination. president obama is kicking off a six day european tour. after landing in ireland this morning, the president and first lady paid a visit to that country's leaders. later today he is expected to explore this family's irish roots. later today a formal and state dinner with the queen and a final stop in poland. and a look at other stories m e making news. a chicago sanitation worker created an ugly scene. eight people including a child suffered injuries after a city truck crashed into their wedding themed photo shoot. the truck lost control pinning people under the vehicle. the driver appeared intoxicated and he has been cited for driving under the influence. fiery crash claimed the life of one person. charred wreckage was all that remained after the car burst into flames. it is unclear if alcohol played a role. it houston. it was a collaboration of creativity and cool. at the 24th annual art car parade. spectators lined the street to get a view of the cars and definitely one-of-a-kind.

mitch daniels name shows up among the conventional crowd. i think the governor of indiana has fared well and seems to have a following. unless he is planning a game -- host: were insiders surprised by haley barber's decision? guest: this reminds me of 1992, when clinton got in because the big names didn't. clinton only ran because al gore chose not to. mario cuomo did not get in. they were afraid of george bush. they thought he was a shoe-in. clinton proved them wrong. it is looking like that on the repubican silican side. host: crawford is the guest. first tweet for them. if kaine and paul go third party, is this a risk? guest: i would say this would help obama. host: i think that tweeter meant that. guest: i think that would be a big boost for obama. they have enough juice going so that they'd stay in the party. host: first call. clearwater, florida. republican line. caller: ihavi have two issues. i will be concise as ican. this thing with the assassination, it is an old diversion.tric ok of he leans on his strategists on his staff, on how

early sunday morning indiana governor mitch daniels announced on line he will not run for president. and then a few hours later former minnesota governor tim pawlenty release add video declaring he will run. pawlenty is in iowa to kick off his presidential campaign. governor pawlenty, good morning. >> good morning, erica. >> let's set aside what you think you can do for the country. what even may be your campaign platform. why personally would you want this job which is arguably one of the most difficult and thankless? >> well, i love this country and it's in big trouble. a federal government out of control, the spending is out of control, the debt and the deficit has to be tackled. we got to get this economy growing. and i did that in minnesota. i was one of the few governors in the country to get an a grade from the cato institute on fiscal management, i know how to balance budgets, how to tackle spending, i know how to get economies growing. my state we thread way back under very difficult circumstances. it's a liberal state. if you can do it there you can do it anywhere. so i'm r

in meantime, mitch daniels sent an e-mail to his supporters telling him after lock consideration he would not run for the 2012 nomination. it's believed he decided not to run due to opposition to his wife and four grown daughters who department want to face the public scrutiny. >>> an illegal drug operation is likely responsible for a weekend explosion in livermore that seriously injured three team. -- three people. it happened saturday afternoon in -- afternoon inside an apartment. it blew out the porch. all three victims are still at the hospital suffering from severe burns and other injuries. >> good afternoon to you. we're dealing with sunny and mostly sunny skies giving you a live look at san francisco sitting in the 60s at this hour. very similar to how we were just yesterday. the winds have lightened up quite a bit. they will be back, though. sfo reporting 13 miles an hour. around santa rosa, oakland, livermore anywhere from 5 to 10 miles an hour and just a little breezier reported in areas around livermore and concord. 63 san jose. as well as palo ail toll 57 redwood city. san fra

mitch daniels considers a presidential run. while mitt romney defends his record on health care and ron paul jumps in to the gop race one more time. all early this friday morning one more time. all early this friday morning may 13th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs >>> good morning. welcome to "the early show." i'm chris wragge. fingers crossed. >> i'm erica hill, nice to have you with us this morning. it seems every day we keep hearing more and who are about the in-t the in-elligence that found osama bin laden. compound. this morning, though, that information is being overshadowed by what appears to be the first retaliation for bin laden's killing. >> and that's where we begin. those deadly bombings in pakistan, at least 80 people most of them military recruits killed. charlie dag'agata in london wit the latest. >> reporter: the taliban in pakistan has claimed responsibilities for this morning's attacks saying it was carried out to avenge the death of osama bin laden and vowed more attacks will come. two suicide bombers blew th

. >> laura bush called the wife of indiana governor mitch daniels urging her to get her husband to run. abc news, washington. >> alan: just ahead police recover a stolen vintage vowel here in the bay area, but they need your help finding some parts that are still missing. >>> get ready for a chilly spring shower. leigh glaser coming up with the forecast. >> all new. the biggest controversy in "oprah show" history. now, five years after "a million little pieces," they meet again. oprah, james frey. >> alan: a bay area native died in a late night boating accident in virginia. officials have released the 9-1-1 reporting of a survivor who managed to swim to shore. >> i went out on a sailboat, went down the river, and the boat sank. >> alan: the accident happened thursday night on the jamesry. river, ten people afillitied with the nasa research center were on a sailboat when it cap sized. lorenzo tyler was killed. he is a native or the valley. others swam two to three miles to shore. >> clearly a very harrowing experience for them, being trapped in the middle of the night in the middle of t

names like mitt romney sarah palin, newt gingrich, michelle bachmann, mitch daniels, donald trump. you know what? we're going to throw the rest of the names up on the webb. as a result, america got to meet some of the lesser known republican candidates. >> congressman ron paul of texas, herman cane, former chairman and ceo of god matter's pizza. tim pawlenty of minnesota. rick santorum. >> jon: you might have to google some of those candidates. although i guess for the last guy i prefer you didn't do that. by the way, if you didn't get that joke, go google samtorum right now. i'll wait. yeah. (beep) believe that? santorum might as well change his last name to lemon party. go ahead. google that. i'll wait. all right. let's move on. perhaps the most well known candidate was 12th term texas congressman ron paul the only participant currently holding office. >> we do not need secret prisons nor do we need the torture that goes on in the secret military prisons. maybe we can take care of some people back here at home if we weren't spending $1.5 trillion a year on our mill tarism. >> jon

indiana governor and possible presidential candidate mitch daniels is taking the first major step saying he will sign legislation to cut off all government-funding for planned parenthood in his state, and a move that has many wondering if politics is playing too much of a role in women's health. betty cochran is the president and ceo of the indiana chapter of planned parenthood. betty, good to have you on. here is the national reality for everyone who may not understand what planned parenthood does and this was checked by po litti-facts. so only 3% of the services are abortion-related, so how big of a negative is this for your women in the state individually and then we can talk about it on a national level from there. >> well, it is a huge concern for the state of indiana, because as many as 22,000 of our most vulnerable are at risk of losing their medical home across state at our 28 locations. and what we are talking about here is basic preventive health care, pap tests, annual exams, breast exams, std testing and treatment and birth control. >> betty, we have to touch on the politics

mitch daniels did -- >> dick cheney didid. >> it is kind of fascinating, because the base of the party do not want to give credit to the other party at any time. no one would say that george bush cares about his daughters or white if you were about fire- breathing democrats -- or wife if you care about fire-e-breathing democrats. so it is a certain maturity with romney and daniels -- >> at the lack of character on the part of palin -- >> and new? that does it. [laughter] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. ♪ ♪ >> this is the longest war in our history. there is no end in sight. to make it worse, we are not paying for the war. is on the national credit card. the war in afghanistan adds over $100 billion a year, $8 billion each month, to our debt. >> that is congressman and jim mcgovern of massachusetts who along with walter jones of north carolina have co-sponsored the afghanistan exit and accountability act which would set a firm timeline for withdrawing troops did a couple mo

mitch daniels decided not to run not because he happens to think that he can't beat president obama. he decided not to run because he's got some real family considerations there, a wife and children that really don't want to be exposed to the limelight. they've had at times a very rocky marriage that ended in divorce and a remarriage. they didn't want to be out there. paul ryan right now is a very powerful republican. he's very young. he could run at some other time. remember when barack obama ran and was a candidate and everyone was like, why are you running now, you're so young? and he said, this is a timing thing. the ryan people said this is not his time and he's got time. >> mark preston is our cnn political editor. republican primary voters in new hampshire are giving us a glimpse at which candidate they would trust to handle the economy, basically look at those numbers. it's basically mitt romney at 44% and everyone else. mitt romney, can he gain the support of the tea party which is really driving the agenda for the republican party these days and make himself a viable candid

mitch daniels name shows up among the conventional crowd. i think the governor of indiana has fared well and seems to have a following. unless he is planning a game -- host: were insiders surprised by haley barber's decision? guest: this reminds me of 1992, when clinton got in because the big names didn't. clinton only ran because al gore chose not to. mario cuomo did not get in. they were afraid of george bush. they thought he was a shoe-in. clinton proved them wrong. it is looking like that on the repubican silican side. host: crawford is the guest. first tweet for them. if kaine and paul go third party, is this a risk? guest: i would say this would help obama. host: i think that tweeter meant that. guest: i think that would be a big boost for obama. they have enough juice going so that they'd stay in the party. host: first call. clearwater, florida. republican line. caller: ihavi have two issues. i will be concise as ican. this thing with the assassination, it is an old diversion.tric ok of he leans on his strategists on his staff, on how

mitch daniels is a longtime friend of aei. he has put his politics where his mouth as for the benefit of indiana and come in the future, perhaps for the benefit of our nation as well. mitch has many of myers and fans here, starting with me. gov. daniels. [applause] >> arthur, many thank you. friends at aei. the first thing you should know is that you're here under false pretenses. i came here for a meal. [laughter] literally. i have an invitation for this evening which i decided to .xcepaccept calvin coolidge once said that a man a street somewhere. so i came to aei. we said yes and 24 hours later, some pajama-clad blogger turned into a major policy address. [laughter] so that maybe what you'll get. we will see. [laughter] do not come to town that often. it took me a moment to realize when i saw all the flags at half staff. then it hit me. the inventor of the teleprompter died last week. i know that president obama is grief-stricken by the news. [laughter] when i innocently said, as i always do, i would love to drop by aei, i

mitch daniels did -- >> dick cheney did. >> the base of yououparty does not want to give credit to the president of the other party at any time. the one to say that it george bush even cared about his daughter -- you don't want to say george bush even cared about his daughter or his wife. so a certain maturity on the part of romney and pawlenty and daniels. >> i the lack of character on the part of palin -- >> and newt. >> if the bad guys were in pakistan and yemen and elsewhere, why are we still in afghanistan? >> this is the longest war in our history. there is no end in cite. to make it worse, we're not even paying for the war. it is on the national credit card. over $100 billion a year, it $2 billion each week. >> that is congressman jim mcgovern of massachusetts, a democrat who, along with republican congressman walter jones of north carolina, has sponsored a bipartisan afghanistan exit and accountability act, which would set a firm time line for withdrawing american a couple of months ago, a poll revealed that 73% want us out this year. >> i think they will to stay on the timetab

they're looking for an alternative for romney and are waiting until july and looking for mitch daniels and john huntsman. chris: have they given up on bush? >> he's one of the people they're craving but i don't think he's going to get in. chris: i love that word, craving. elisabeth? >> leon panetta, the director of the c.i.a., ran the raid and what's interesting to me was how much he was out on the networks, out on television, talking about the c.i.a. and to me that was kind of a little of the transition into his new role starting july 1 as the defense secretary. >> the big question at the white house, president obama last year announced he was going to make a state visit to pakistan. now he's come out with this raid that shows that osama bin laden was staying an hour outside of islamabad and all this intel coming out, people waiting to see how high up the pakistani government might be implicated. they don't know if obama will go yet. >> no is the answer. to go way outside the beltway, but the embattled president of syria has told other arab leaders that he knows he'll have to distance

>> it means mitch daniels is slightly more likely to run because he and haley are friends and kind of had an understanding that only one would run dry in the is a gaping hole in the south of republicans. >> he decided he would like i to eat too much. he has been on a diet all year and he decided he hated it so much -- >> if i had to choose between a pizza and air force one, i would choose. >> -- i would choose air force one. >> you know who loses? everybody who covers this race. he is fine and he has a goo -- is fun and has a goo -- and is a good politician. >> my assumption is that i take him at his word, that he did not have the fire in his belly. you look at everything you out in life and see how it might be construed -- you have done in life and see how it might be construed -- >> he looked at the situation from all angles and realized he would have a hard time winning. >> other candidates are looking for his support. >> he could be at the cinet now he is a respectable guy who kns how to run estates and parties -- states and parties. >> he assembled one of the most able teams at a

mitch daniels will also compete for that if he comes into the race. the real action and intensity and energy right that seems to be exclusively on the conservative side, and that is the case, it will be a problem for democrats from 1972 when all the action and energy was on the left side of the party and they nominated george mcgovern, and an admirable man who carried one state. >> a republican nominee who is a squished -- he will vote against him anyway. >> mike huckabee -- i take him at his word that he backed off, but i think they will be clamoring for him in the future. >> also grumbling about rick perry in texas. >> and michele bachmann. >> sarah palin. we reached the debt limit, and the gang of six is now a gang of five. >> the worst thing you do is bang your head against the wall until you break your head. >> that is republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma, who has pulled out of the gang of six and it frustration. senators from both parties have been trying to find common ground on the debt reduction plan. what is the back story on this, mark

mitch daniels will also compete for that if he comes into the race. the real action and intensity and energy right that seems to be excluvely on the conservative side, and that is the case, it will be a problem for democrats from 1972 when all the action and energy was on the left side of the party and they nominated george mcgovern, and an admirable man who carried one state. >> a republican nominee who is a squished -- he will vote against him anyway. >> mike huckabee -- i take him at his word that he backed off, but i think they will be clamoring for him in the future. >> also grumbling about rick perry in texas. >> and michele bachmann. >> sarah palin. we reached the debt limit, and the gang of six is now a gang of five. >> the worst thing you do is bang your head against the wall until you break your head. >> that is republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma, who has pulled out ofhe gang of six and it frustration. senators from both parties have been trying to find common ground on the debt reduction plan. what is the back story on this, mark? >>

but mitch daniels is one of those fiscal conservatives whose kind of a wonk. been in washington, gets the budget issues. been a successful governor. so lots of republicans are saying he understands the spending issues better than anyone else. and he might be able to be a good person to go toe to toe with barack obama. so you have to say. >>> haley barbour is pushing. he was once considered a possible candidate, the governor of mississippi, he dropped out. >> there's also a little bit of suspicion on the conservative side about daniels particularly because he called for a truce on social issues so the country could get its financial matters in order. this is a guy who's going to have to answer questions like that before conservatives sort of anoint him as the front runner. >> joe and gloria, thanks very much. >>> we now know the identity, yes the identity of the woman who arnold schwarzenegger secretly fathered a child with. what we're learning. stand by. >>> and president obama deliver amajor speech on u.s. relations with the arab world, but does it really rep

mitch daniels did -- >> dick cheney did. >> the base of your party does not want to give credit to the president of the other party at any time. the one to say that it george bush even cared about his daughter -- you don't want to say george bush even cared about his daughter or his wife. so a certain maturity on the part of romney and pawlenty and daniels. >> i the lack of character on the part of palin -- >> and newt. >> if the bad guys were in pakistan and yemen and elsewhere, why are we still in afghanistan? >> this is the longest war in our history. there is no end in cite. to make it worse, we're not even paying for the war. it is on the national credit card. over $100 billion a year, it $2 billion each week. >> that is congressman jim mcgovern of massachusetts, a democrat who, along with republican congressman walter jones of north carolina, has sponsored a bipartisan afghanistan exit and accountability act, which would set a firm time line for withdrawing american a couple of months ago, a poll revealed that 73% want us out this year. >> i think they will to stay on the timetab

. >> it means m mitch daniels is slighthtly more lily to run but it leaves a huge hole i in th south for replicans. >> haley barbour has decided he likes to eat too much. he has been on a diet all year, and he decided he hated it -- >> if i had to choose between a pizza and air force one, i would choose air force one. >> you know who loses? everybody who covers this race. he is f a a good politician. >> when you have been a lobbyist, substantial part of your life, my assumption is -- i take him at his word, thahe did not have the fire in the belly, and ththat youook at everything you have done in l life and you decide how it might be construed -- >> he is a realist, and he looked at the situation from all angles and realized he would have a hard time winning. >> other potential candidates are looking for s support. >> he will be importt in the race. he could be in t cabinet. he is a respectable guy who knows how to run a state and parties. >> he assembled one of the most able teams in all of politics not sily on the republican side. >> then he saw a giant pizza pie and decided he can

we still have maybe a decision soon from mitch daniel and we're talking about michele bachmann, maybe a decision soon. pawlenty is in and mccain jumping in now and a couple other officials. is it starting to get good now, maria? >> well, whenever you have the kind of week that newt gingrich had, it is always good for democrats, t.j. but i have to tell you, it has been interesting because the gop leaders, the republican leadership really is very anxious for others to get in because they understand that if the field really looks like what it looks like today, obama is going to sail into re-election. so, i think that pawlenty needs to really look at this and huntsman needs to look at this and mitch daniels needs to look at this and even with them in, i don't know that the field is going to be strong enough to go up against this president right now. >> and on this president, i'll let you answer this next one because i have to move to something certainly that was big news of the week and that was the president making his speech on the middle east. got a lot of backlash from that, lenny. i'

. >>> and in the 2012, the mitch daniels factor. the not-yet candidate who's quickly becoming a republican favorite. >>> good morning, it's wednesday, may 4th, 2011. i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm chuck todd. all the scrutiny on pakistan. as the debt debate returns to washington, is time running out for congress's gang of six? >>> we'll start with bin laden. u.s. agencies are just beginning to sift through what has been called a potential gold mine of intelligence taken from osama bin laden's compound. including thousands of electronic files and paper documents. >> cia director leon panetta talked about it on "nbc's nightly news." >> we picked up an awful lot of information there at the compound. if you combine that with the ability to continue questioning the family, this could give us a lot of valuable information regarding threats, regarding the location of other high-value targets. and regarding the kind of operations that we need to conduct against these terrorists. >> nbc's jim miklaszewski live for us from the pentagon with

earlier today indiana governor mitch daniels announcing he is out leaving a list of declared counties. utah governor john huntsman and a businessman horman payne. >>> appearing on cbs's face the nation gingrich denied that he used tiffany half a million dollars. >> we had a revolving account. >> who buys that much jewelry on credit? >> it is a standard no interest account. >> how long did you owe it? >> i have no idea. but it was paid off automatically. they had no interest on it. there was no problem with it. >> it was a normal way of doing business. >> gingrich says he has no debt except for a mortgage on a rental property. >>> battered by a storm of deadly tornadoes. as many as two dozen people are feared dead in missouri where homes and a hospital were heavily damaged. 100 patients were safely evacuated. one man found medical records in his backyard 45 miles away from the hospital. missouri's governor has declared a state of percentage. >>> meteorologist lawrence karnow has been watching the storms. >> looks like more devastating tornadoes and scary weather continues tonight. dopp

but recently mitch daniels overnight sent a letter out, governor of indiana, saying you know what, my family, it can't take it. does that move the race in my way, shape, or form? >> well, it's certainly a big do disappointment. a lot of us were trying to get him to take this race on. my wife and i spent a good afternoon with him. you know, we have about 2 million activists across the country, and frankly we're disappointed. now, obviously, we'll have to start looking, and i was just saying this morning maybe it's time to start drafting paul ryan. >> oh, my goodness. well, there certainly are a lot of concerns. we should say you have been heavily involved in the tea party movement and come from sort of that section of the party. let me ask you, when the white house looks at this sort of thing, is this now background noise or do they look and say, boy, mitch daniels, i mean, he's got a record, pretty good record in indiana if you're a republican. is this a plus or a minus for republicans? >> well, candy, last time i worked at the white house in the clinton years in 1996, we were certain

they are literally begging mitch danie daniels, governor of indiana to throw his hat in the ring. >> jammal's point about scrutiny is absolutely right. the scrutiny is as intense as it is because everybody on both sides understands that there is a weak incumbent, barack obama has -- is being beat by generic republican and -- particularly amongst independent. zeitgeist of the country, high anxiety. people think they are going to be worse off next year than they were last year. they are worse off today. he -- there are people that are solidly -- ten times more -- excuse me, ten points more people say -- >> let's get back to the question. what does it say that so many republicans are unhappy with the current candidate? they are begging not only mitch daniels but rick perry and -- so many others like jeb bush even, people that said they are not interested in running, they are begging them to run. >> what they are saying is -- i'm sorry didn't this is a weak incumbent. he can be beat. they want to get going. but the unenthusiasm as the field is -- coming together is not unusual. that happ

for mitch daniels it was the biggest obstacle for him. his wife and daughters did not want the scrutiny. a few days -- a few days ago sarah palin said that she had a fire in the belly, but the fire in the bel was definitely lacking from its daniels on whether or not he had the stomach to want to run. running for president is not easy. it takes a tremendous amount of time. there are many big highs and lows in his decision was not surprising. host: coming the same week as donald trump announced he was not running for president. michele bodman -- michelle bachman, plus stops in new hampshire. guest: it would appear that the entire state of minnesota is running. they are taking advantage of mitch daniels not being in the race. people that might want to get in, contingents that were thought to be behind the daniels' campaign. he was a bush guy in washington, within the administration. there is anpportunity for a lot of folks. at theame time, i cannot imagine that we will not have a pretty good idea wiin the next few weeks. host: michelle obama

for mitch daniels it was the biggest obstacle for him. his wife and daughters did not want the scrutiny. a few days -- a few days ago sarah palin said that she had a fire in the belly, but the fire in the belly was definitely lacking from its daniels on whether or not he had the stomach to want to run. running for president is not easy. it takes a tremendous amount of time. there are many big highs and lows in his decision was not surprising. host: coming the same week as donald trump announced he was not running for president. michele bodman -- michelle bachman, plus stops in new hampshire. guest: it would appear that the entire state of minnesota is running. they are taking advantage of mitch daniels not being in the race. people that might want to get in, contingents that were thought to be behind the daniels' campaign. he was a bush guy in washington, within the administration. there is an opportunity for a lot of folks. at the same time, i cannot imagine that we will not have a pretty good idea within the next few weeks. host: michel

but you know, things just keep happening to mitch daniels. john? john king will be right back with the 2012 field of candidates, which is about to get a little bigger. ♪ ♪ ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on. ♪ >>> we're live tonight in concord, new hampshire on a very busy friday in presidential politics. the former minnesota governor, tim pawlenty, well, he'll make it official on monday, visiting iowa to formally declare his bid for the republican presidential nomination. and sarah palin is creating new business. even many of her allies doubt the former alaska governor will run in 2012. but listen here. she says don't be so sure. >> i have that fire in my belly. it's a matter for me of some kind of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made. one is with a large family understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children's part in order to see their mama run for president. but yeah, the fire in the belly, it's there. >> and here in new hamp