Hillary Clinton and William Hague hail US-UK bond

Mr Hague and Mrs Clinton
 met ahead of President
 Obama's arrival in the UK

In a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr Hague said the two countries stood side by side on issues like the Middle East peace process.

Mrs Clinton said the US and UK had "a great working relationship".

US President Barack Obama will arrive in the UK on Monday night.

Earlier, it was announced that the UK and US were setting up a joint body, the National Security Strategy Board, to look at threats from terrorism and rogue states.

Mr Hague said the relationship between the two countries remained "a cornerstone of stability in the world".

'Huge contribution'

The two politicians held talks on Monday afternoon on a range of foreign policy matters, including the recent political unrest in countries like Libya, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.

Mr Hague said the uprisings had brought "renewed hope of a better life" to millions of people, but warned that this period was also "marked by violence and uncertainty".

He said the US and UK would work closely together to support democracy and condemn repression.

There has been criticism in some quarters that the US is taking a back seat in the Nato-led effort to protect the Libyan population from attacks by Col Gaddafi's forces.

But Mrs Clinton said the US continued to fly 25% of all daily sorties over Libya, while Mr Hague said no-one should "underestimate in any way the huge contribution the United States has made".

Last week, following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama said any future Palestinian state must be based on the borders that existed prior to the 1967 war.

Mr Hague has already welcomed that statement and he re-iterated that at the news conference, while stressing the urgent need for action.

"Time is running out for a two-state solution and the initiative must be seized now," he said.

Mrs Clinton added: "Now is the time, in this period of great upheaval, there is an opportunity to come to a successful outcome."

'Stop the killings'

Both ministers condemned the violence in Syria where human rights activists say more than 850 people have been killed since March by security forces trying to quell unrest.

On Monday, the European Union announced that it would join the US and impose sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mrs Clinton said: "Foreign Secretary Hague and I are absolutely consistent with our message to the Assad government.

"Stop the killings, the beatings the arrests, release all political prisoners and detainees. Begin to respond to the demands that are upon you for a process of credible and inclusive democratic change."

Her UK counterpart added: "Syria must change course."

President Obama had been due to fly into the UK on Tuesday, but his arrival has been moved forward to Monday night due to fears that ash from an Icelandic volcano could disrupt flights.

He and his wife will stay at Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen, and the president will hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street.

The Fast Fix: President Pawlenty?

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota,  is seen as someone with a real chance at becoming the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. But will his strengths outweigh his weaknesses?

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty made it official today: He's running for president in 2012.Pawlenty is seen as someone with a real chance at the Republican nomination. Let's take a look at his strengths and weaknesses.First, his strengths.Pawlenty spent eight years as governor of Minnesota, not exactly a Republican stronghold. That means he knows how to appeal to the all-important swing voter.

Pawlenty is a committed campaigner. He's already been to key early states like Iowa and New Hampshire multiple times and is building solid political organizations in each of those places too.

Pawlenty is a down-the-line conservative. With the exception of past support for cap and trade energy legislation, he wracked up a solidly conservative record even while governing Minnesota.

Now, his weaknesses.

Pawlenty is an unknown. Even though he has been stumping around early states for months, he's still not making much of a dent in national polls of the 2012 field.

Pawlenty isn't going to win any charisma contests. He's widely regarded as a nice guy but that might be enough to distinguish him in a crowded field.

Pawlenty's never done this before. Running for national office is no easy task and first time candidates tend to stumble as they get up to speed.

For Pawlenty to be a serious contender for the nomination, he probably needs to win the Iowa caucuses next year. Lucky for him, that seems like a real possibility at the moment.

By Chris Cillizza

Pawlenty trots out video on eve of presidential campaign kickoff

(CNN) -- On the eve of his formal presidential campaign kickoff, Tim Pawlenty pre-announced his candidacy in a video promising to "try something different. I could just tell you the truth."
It was no secret that Pawlenty was making the announcement Monday in an event in Des Moines, Iowa. But Pawlenty pre-empted his own moment with the video released late Sunday on his website and on social media, declaring, "I'm Tim Pawlenty and I'm running for president of the United States."

Tim Pawlenty

Watch the video
The video starts with different ways to announce a candidacy before the former Minnesota governor says, "Or I could try something different. I could just tell you the truth. The truth is our country's in big trouble. We have far too much debt, too much government spending, and too few jobs. We need a president who understands that our problems are deep and who has the courage to face them. President Obama doesn't. I do."
He says, "My first campaign stop will be in Iowa and that's where I'm going to begin a campaign that tells the American people the truth."
The choice of venues for Monday's event is no surprise. The Hawkeye State's caucuses kick off the presidential primary and caucus calendar and a strong finish in Iowa is crucial for Pawlenty's hopes of winning the Republican presidential nomination.
Pawlenty's announcement at an event in Des Moines will kick off a multi-state campaign swing that also includes Florida, New Hampshire, New York and Washington D.C.
The formal declaration of candidacy has been expected. Pawlenty was the first of what are considered the major GOP White House contenders to form a presidential exploratory committee, filing with the Federal Election Commission on March 21.
A video posted on Pawlenty's Facebook page that contained images of himself as well as patriotic symbols accompanied his set up of the exploratory committee. In his launch video, Pawlenty pointed to his working-class roots, saying he had seen the effect of job loss personally during his youth. He also referenced some of the economic hardships his state and others have faced more recently.
"Over the last year I have traveled to nearly every state in the country -- almost every state -- and I know many Americans are feeling that way today. I know that feeling. I've lived it, but there is a brighter future for America," he says in the video.
He pledges to grow jobs, limit government spending and tackle entitlements.
Pawlenty appeared to be the main attraction at the first GOP presidential debate, which was held in Greenville, South Carolina, on May 5. Pawlenty was considered by many Republican party insiders and by many political pundits as the only top-tier candidate among the five who appeared at the debate, which was sponsored by Fox News and the South Carolina GOP.
The debate took place four days after President Barack Obama announced that U.S. special forces had killed Osama bin Laden. While Pawlenty congratulated Obama for making the "tough call" and being "decisive" in ordering the raid to kill the man responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he also was critical of the president on other foreign policy flashpoints.
"I tip my cap to him in that moment. But that moment is not the sum total of America's foreign policy. He's made a number of other decisions relating to our security here and around the world that I don't agree with," said Pawlenty.
Pawlenty has some advantages as he runs for the White House. He appears easy-going to many voters, and apparently has a scandal-free past. He's an evangelical Christian who opposes abortion rights and same sex marriages, positions which may help him among social conservative voters, who are very influential in the Republican primaries, especially in Iowa and South Carolina, which is the first Southern state to vote in the primary and caucus calendar.
But he does have his challenges. First among them is that he's relatively unknown outside his home state. Pawlenty polls in the low single digits in just about every national 2012 GOP horse-race survey. Many Republican handicappers also say Pawlenty is not especially charismatic, possible due to too much of that so-called "Minnesota nice."
Pawlenty's announcement in the summer of 2009 that he would not run the following year for a third term as governor was a tip-off that he was considering a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Pawlenty soon became very visible, speaking out against the Obama administration and appearing at a number of major Republican and conservative events. He also became vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
In October of 2009, Pawlenty also set up Freedom First PAC, a federal political action committee, to help pay for travel across the country. It also allowed him to assist and contribute to fellow Republicans on the ballot in the 2010 midterm elections.
Thanks to his formation of the PAC and his role at the RGA, Pawlenty criss-crossed the country during last year's campaign in support of fellow Republican lawmakers and candidates running in the midterms, helping to raise his profile and building relationships that could come in handy during a bid for the presidential nomination.
Pawlenty touts himself as a fiscal conservative who stood up to Minnesota's state's unions and special interests. In the early years of his tenure the state had budget surpluses. With the effects of the recession still being felt, he left office earlier this year with a $6 billion deficit and higher unemployment than when he became governor.
"Unfortunately for the people of Minnesota, while Governor Pawlenty was out exploring states near and far, he failed those he was supposed to represent. Tim Pawlenty left our state facing the largest deficit in Minnesota's 152-year history, drove up property taxes and fees on middle-class families and small businesses alike, all while making draconian cuts to education that forced some schools into 4-day weeks," Minnesota Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement earlier this year.
In January of this year, just days after leaving office in Minnesota, Pawlenty kicked off a national book tour for "Courage to Stand," which chronicled his personal and political life, and his stance on the issues. It was no surprise that the book tour included stops in Iowa and New Hampshire, which votes second in the primary and caucus season.
The following month, Pawlenty appeared to make a pitch for influential tea party activists, as he called for holding the line on government spending and taxes as he headlined an inaugural policy summit being put on in Phoenix by the Tea Party Patriots, one of the nation's largest national tea party groups.
While Pawlenty's early campaign efforts have been largely confined to Iowa and New Hampshire, he's started expanding his operation into South Carolina, which for a generation has had a can't-miss record of picking the Republican presidential nominee. Earlier this week CNN learned that Pawlenty hired Kurt Pickhardt, who until last week was the operations director for the South Carolina Republican Party, to serve as his political director in the state.
Wednesday night Pawlenty was the main attraction at a large fundraiser in Minneapolis. Friday he finished up a two-day financial swing through California. Unlike some of his rivals for the nomination, Pawlenty is raising money for both the primaries and the general election.
"We are raising it because we believe we'll be the nominee and want to be ready for the Democrats," says Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant.
While perfectly legal, raising general election funds helps boost the overall fundraising figures for a candidate. For this election cycle, the Federal Election Commission is allowing individuals to contribute $2,500 to a candidate for the primaries, with another $2,500 to the same candidate for the general election.
By the CNN Wire Staff

The Daniels effect: Other Republicans expected to be pushed

Washington (CNN) -- In the wake of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' decision not to run for the Republican presidential nomination, there is debate among Republican activists about whether the universe of interested candidates will grow or whether it is pretty well set.
Consultants not involved in the campaigns told CNN to expect more intense focus to be put on some of the leading party figures who have so far sat out the race to rethink their decisions.
Some GOP fund-raisers and consultants who were not happy with the current crop of prospects had increasingly focused on Daniels, a fiscal conservative and experienced governor, as a viable Republican presidential candidate who could definitely give President Barack Obama a serious challenge.
"It is certainly a big disappointment. There are a lot of us that were talking to Mitch and trying to get him to take this race on," former House Majority Leader Dick Armey told CNN's "State of the Union." "Now obviously we have to start looking." Armey is chairman of the influential advocacy group FreedomWorks, which works closely with Tea Party activists nationwide.
"The push for other GOP candidates to enter will be intense," consultant Scott Reed told CNN. Reed had been a prime supporter of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour until he decided against running.
"I do not think it is set at all," former Capitol Hill staffer and consultant Ron Bonjean told CNN. "I definitely think other people can jump in."
Some campaign veterans, however, said while there may be efforts at recruiting new faces, they don't think they will be successful and therefore the set of candidates will be finalized soon.
Tim Pawlenty is scheduled to announce his candidacy Monday, and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are moving toward formal campaigns. Two other leading candidates who are testing the waters are expected to make their decisions known in the coming weeks to help finalize the field of candidates: Rep. Michele Bachmann and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.
One major question mark is whether 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will throw her hat into the ring.
While many analysts predict she won't since she has not taken any concrete steps toward setting up a campaign, her political action committee sent out a national fund-raising pitch, she has reorganized her political team and just last week said it was too early for her to make a decision and definitely had the will.
"I think my problem is that I do have the fire in my belly. I am so adamantly supportive of the good, traditional things about America and our free enterprise system, and I want to make sure that America is put back on the right track, and we only do that by defeating Obama in 2012. 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," she told Fox News, where she is employed as a political commentator.
Analysts see major weaknesses with all the contenders, fueling more efforts at recruiting new candidates.
"I think there is a lack of excitement on the GOP side, and that is why a narrative has emerged that other candidates need to jump in" in order to rally the base, Bonjean said.
Bonjean and other Republicans argue there are advantages for the party when you look at the president's approval ratings hovering around 50%, his economic approval numbers on the decline and the nation's unemployment rate at about 9%.
While "every Republican candidate has a weakness, President Obama's is the economy and that overwhelms everyone else's liabilities," Bonjean said.
The exit of several leading contenders just in the past week -- Daniels and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- has only added more uncertainty and fluidity to the race. Those candidates now in the race are working hard to win over supporters and fund-raisers who had been aligned with Huckabee and Daniels.
Some of the major consultants and fund-raisers who had been sitting out the race will have to decide whether to embrace one of the current candidates or continue to sit it out in hopes of someone else entering.
One major problem is that several of the other leading prospective candidates who are the focus of the speculation have ruled out running.
"I was just saying this morning, maybe it's time to start drafting Paul Ryan," Dick Armey suggested on Sunday, referring to the House Budget chairman who is a popular figure in the party because of his proposal to rein in federal spending.
Ryan insisted Sunday he is not running.
"I'm not going to get into all those hypotheticals. I am not running for president. I am not planning on running for president. If you are running for president, you've got to do a lot of things to line up a candidacy. I have not done any of those things," Ryan told NBC's "Meet the Press."
More attention assuredly will be focused on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
While a group of leading Iowa fund-raisers and activists are scheduled to meet with Christie next week to try to entice him into the race, the governor reiterated this month to CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin he will not run. She asked him at an education forum which of the GOP candidates shared his philosophy on the issue.
"You ain't getting me anywhere near that. My God, I am not running for president. Everyone remain calm. All is well."
Consultant Reed said he thought only former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or current Texas Gov. Rick Perry "could pull it off" at this stage although both also have insisted they will not mount campaigns.
As a website went up last week trying to draft Perry, he said he has other priorities.
"I am standing where I am standing, and I've got a legislative session that is extremely more important to the people of the state of Texas and to me," Perry told reporters last week.
Also a possibility, some insiders said, is a dark horse candidate emerging later in the summer or even in the fall, although the chances of success are considered small.

Israeli rebuke of Obama exposes divide on Mideast

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly told President Barack Obama on Friday his vision of how to achieve Middle East peace was unrealistic, exposing a deep divide that could doom any U.S. bid to revive peace talks.

euters – U.S. President Barack Obama
 meets with Israel's Prime Minister
 Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office …

In an unusually sharp rebuke to Israel's closest ally, Netanyahu insisted Israel would never pull back to its 1967 borders -- which would mean big concessions of occupied land -- that Obama had said should be the basis for negotiations on creating a Palestinian state.

"Peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle East reality," an unsmiling Netanyahu said as Obama listened intently beside him in the Oval Office after they met for talks.

Netanyahu insisted that Israel was willing to make compromises for peace, but made clear he had major differences with Washington over how to advance the long-stalled peace process.

Netanyahu's resistance raises the question of how hard Obama will push for concessions he is unlikely to get, and whether the vision the U.S. leader laid out on Thursday to resolve the decades-old conflict will ever get off the ground.

[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]

Despite assurances of friendship by both leaders, this week's events also appeared to herald tense months ahead for U.S.-Israeli relations, even as the Arab world goes through political tumult and Palestinians prepare a unilateral bid this fall to seek U.N. General Assembly recognition for statehood.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Obama said he reiterated to Netanyahu the peace "principles" he offered on Thursday in a policy speech on the Middle East upheaval.

The goal, he said, "has to be a secure Israeli state, a Jewish state, living side by side in peace and security with a contiguous, functioning and effective Palestinian state.

Obama on Thursday embraced a long-sought goal by the Palestinians: that the state they seek in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip should largely be drawn along lines that existed before the 1967 war in which Israel captured those territories and East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, who heads a right-leaning coalition, responded with what amounted to a history lecture about the vulnerability to attack that Israel faced with the old borders. "We can't go back to those indefensible lines," he said.

Picking a fight with Israel could be politically risky for Obama at home as he seeks re-election in 2012.

CRISIS IN RELATIONS

The brewing crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations dimmed even further the prospect for resuming peace talks that collapsed late last year when Palestinians walked away in a dispute over Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.

Obama and Netanyahu, meanwhile, appear to have reached an impasse after two and a half years of rocky relations. The Obama White House was angered when Netanyahu refused a U.S. demand to halt building Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Some Israelis have never felt entirely comfortable with Obama, unnerved by his early attempts to reach out to Iran and his support for popular Arab revolutions that have unsettled Israel.

In a pointed comment clearly aimed at Obama's new approach to the long-running conflict, Netanyahu said: "The only peace that will endure is one that is based on reality, on unshakable facts."

Netanyahu, Israeli officials said, was determined to push back hard because the reference to 1967 borders was a red flag that would attract more international pressure on Israel for concessions. A senior Israeli official said Netanyahu felt he had to speak bluntly so he would be "heard around the world."

"There is a feeling that Washington does not understand the reality, doesn't understand what we face," an official on board the plane taking Netanyahu to Washington told reporters.

Despite that, Obama's first declaration of his stance on the contested issue of borders could help ease doubts in the Arab world about his commitment to acting as an even-handed broker and boost his outreach to the region. Another failed peace effort, however, could fuel further frustration.

In line with Netanyahu's stance, Obama voiced opposition to the Palestinian plan to seek U.N. recognition of statehood in September in the absence of renewed peace talks.

The Democratic president has quickly come under fire from Republican critics, who accuse him of betraying Israel, the closest U.S. ally in the region. Pushing Netanyahu could alienate U.S. supporters of Israel as Obama seeks re-election.

Obama may get a chilly reception in a speech to an influential pro-Israel lobbying group on Sunday. Netanyahu is expected to be feted when he addresses the same audience on Monday and then the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

MARKERS FOR COMPROMISE

Obama, in his speech on Thursday, laid down his clearest markers yet on the compromises he believes Israel and the Palestinians must make to resolve a conflict that has long been seen as a source of Middle East tension.

But he did not present a formal U.S. peace plan or any timetable for a deal he once promised to clinch by September.

In Thursday's speech, Obama said: "We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps" of land. While this has long been the private view in Washington, Obama went further than U.S. officials have in the recent past.

Agreed swaps would allow Israel to keep settlements in the West Bank in return for giving the Palestinians other land.

Going into the talks, Netanyahu said he wanted to hear Obama reaffirming commitments made to Israel in 2004 by then-President George W. Bush suggesting that it may keep some large settlement blocs as part of any peace pact.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday that Obama had said nothing that "contradicts those letters."

Obama on Thursday also delivered a message to the Palestinians that they would have to answer "some very difficult questions" about a reconciliation deal with Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and which the United States regards as a terrorist group.

(Additional reporting by Alister Bull, Patricia Zengerle, Jeff Mason, Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Ori Lewis and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Paul Simao)

Democrats meddle in slow-starting GOP primary

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press 

WASHINGTON – Maybe President Barack Obama and his friends got tired of waiting for the 2012 campaign to start.

The early action was supposed to be in the competitive Republican primary. But the White House and its allies are meddling from the sidelines with a good cop, bad cop routine, hoping to exploit the GOP's late start.

A pro-Obama group called Priorities USA is airing a TV ad in South Carolina that jabs Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, two of the best-known Republican contenders. The ad coincided with Romney's visit to the state Saturday, his first since forming a presidential exploratory committee.

AP – President Barack Obama
 carries his
iPad as he departs the Oval
Office at the White House in Washington …

Huntsman, a former Utah governor, also is considering running.

[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]

A safer strategy might call for Obama and his allies to stay quiet, save their money and let the Republicans bash each other. But the GOP rivals aren't doing much bashing in their slow-starting contest. So Democrats are filling the void with ads and emails meant to divide the Republicans or at least annoy them.

Mischief is partly at play.

At a Boston fundraiser Wednesday, Obama credited Romney with helping to shape the Democrats' 2010 health care law, which conservatives detest and Romney has pledged to repeal. As Massachusetts governor in 2006, Romney enacted a state law that, like the federal one, requires people to obtain health insurance.

Obama has offered winking praise of Romney before. But Democrats feel Gingrich gave them a new opening on the health care front when he called a recently passed GOP House bill "radical." It would reduce Medicare's costs and benefits over time and convert Medicaid to a state block grant program.

Gingrich's efforts to apologize and retract the comments have not stopped Democrats' criticisms. The Priorities USA ad in South Carolina seeks to pit Romney against Gingrich, in terms neither will find flattering.

"Newt Gingrich says the Republican plan that would essentially end Medicare is too radical," the ad says. It suggests it's hard to know where Romney stands because he has neither criticized nor fully embraced the House measure.

Romney's camp is firing back and using the pro-Democratic ad to raise money. Romney's exploratory committee, in an email seeking donations, calls it "a misleading, negative attack ad." Romney "will not allow these tactics to slow him down," the email says.

Romney adviser Kevin Madden said the Democrats "are trying to be cute." But the South Carolina ad actually "is a sign of weakness" from a president who wants to divert attention from jobs and the economy, Madden said.

Obama and his allies have little to lose by linking Romney to the Democrats' health care law. If Republican voters accept the argument, they may nominate a less mainstream candidate who could prove weak in the general election.

If Romney is the nominee, he might have a harder time distinguishing his policies from Obama's, complicating Romney's claim that it's time to change leaders.

The Democratic National Committee maintains a barrage of "rapid response" criticisms of Romney, Gingrich, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other GOP contenders.

"Tim Pawlenty: Uninspiring at Best," said one DNC statement, based on portions of a Time magazine article.

Some Democrats question the wisdom of undercutting Pawlenty, Gingrich or any other Republican besides Romney, who many see as potentially the strongest contender in a shaky GOP field.

Bill Burton, a former Obama aide who heads the Priorities USA group, said there's no point in trying to guess who the Republicans will nominate, and no point in waiting to hit the candidates' weaknesses.

Romney "is a flawed candidate," Burton said, "but he'll be well-funded."

No go in 2012: Ind. GOP Gov. Daniels not running

WASHINGTON – Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind., said Sunday he won't run for president because of family concerns, narrowing the field but making a wide-open race even hazier.

"In the end, I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one," said the former Bush White House budget chief, disclosing his decision in a middle-of-the-night e-mail to supporters. "The interests and wishes of my family, is the most important consideration of all. If I have disappointed you, I will always be sorry."

A two-term Midwestern governor, Daniels had considered a bid for months and was pressured by many in the Republican establishment who longed for a conservative with a strong fiscal record to run.

He expressed interest in getting in the race partly because it would give him a national platform to ensure the country's fiscal health would remain part of the 2012 debate.

But Daniels always said his family — his wife and four daughters — was a sticking point.

[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]

Had he entered, Daniels would have shaken up an evolving field that lacks a front-runner against President Barack Obama and that has been unpredictable in its early stages.

Daniels had donors and grass-roots supporters at the ready for a national fundraising and political organization that some aides privately said would rival those of announced candidates.

Instead, Daniels becomes the latest Republican to opt against a bid as the GOP searches for a Republican to challenge Obama in 2012.

Daniels' close friend, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, surprised much of the GOP when he pulled the plug on a candidacy in April, and. Barbour privately encouraged Daniels to run. A week ago, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the 2008 Iowa caucus winner, bowed out, followed quickly by celebrity real estate developer Donald Trump.

"He's a terrific talent," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican presidential candidate, said of Daniels on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "He would have been a very formidable competitor. I really thought he would be in the front-runners from Day One if he'd decided to run."

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Budget Committee and, like Daniels, a proponent of bringing fiscal issues to the forefront of political debate, said the governor's decision was disappointing.

"I think his candidacy would have been a great addition to this race," Ryan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." The Wisconsin congressman waved off any suggestion he was considering entering the presidential race himself.

Polls show that Republican primary voters want more options in a race that includes former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, as well as ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others.

In the wake of the decisions by Barbour and Huckabee to skip the race, the clamoring among establishment Republicans for Daniels to run — including from the Bush family circle — had become ear-shattering.

"The counsel and encouragement I received from important citizens like you caused me to think very deeply about becoming a national candidate," Daniels said in the e-mail message.

"If you feel that this was a non-courageous or unpatriotic decision, I understand and will not attempt to persuade you otherwise," he added. "I only hope that you will accept my sincerity in the judgment I reached."

Daniel had sounded more optimistic about a run in the past week than he had in months, though he never had sounded particularly enthused. His advisers had reached out to Republicans in Iowa and other early nominating states for private conversations.

But as he talked about a candidacy, he always pointed back to his family as the primary issue that would hold him back.

His wife, Cheri, filed for divorce in 1993 and moved to California to remarry, leaving him to raise their four daughters in Indiana. She later divorced, and she and Daniels reconciled and remarried in 1997.

Mrs. Daniels had never taken much of a public role in her husband's political career.

So it raised eyebrows when she was chosen as the keynote speaker at a major Indiana fundraiser earlier in May.

Both husband and wife were said to be pleased with the reception they got, and advisers suggested that the outcome could encourage Daniels to run for president. Even so, Republicans in Washington and Indiana with ties to Daniels put the odds at 50-50.

A former budget director under President George W. Bush, Daniels used his time considering a run to also shine a spotlight on rising budget deficits and national debt, even though his former boss grew the scope of government and federal spending during his tenure.

Daniels, a one-time senior executive at Eli Lilly & Co., caused a stir among cultural conservatives by saying the next president facing economic crisis "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues."

He is looked with admiration in GOP circles for being the rare Republican who won office in a Democratic year — 2008 — in a state that Obama had won. And, since being re-elected, he has leveraged Republican majorities in the state Legislature to push through a conservative agenda.

Daniels made his intentions clear in a characteristically understated e-mail.

It was sent by the governor through Eric Holcomb, the Indiana Republican Party chairman and one of Daniels' closest advisers, and confirmed by others close to the governor on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting his announcement.

It ended: "Many thanks for your help and input during this period of reflection. Please stay in touch if you see ways in which an obscure Midwestern governor might make a constructive contribution to the rebuilding of our economy and our Republic."