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 cease-fire 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.