RUSH: Indianapolis. John, I really appreciate your patience. Thank you, sir.

CALLER: Oh, no problem. Super Bowl dittos from Indianapolis where we embrace the Midwest cold weather, Rush.

RUSH: I appreciate that. I heard Peyton Manning say that it’s 20 degrees and snowing earlier this week, and he had to get out of town. Was it really 20 degrees and snowing?

CALLER: Yeah, but it’s warming up, and they’ve set up downtown to be — they’re gonna have heaters. It’s gonna be great.

RUSH: Yeah, I’ve been there a number of times during the regular season, and I’ve seen what they’ve done. There’s inside walkways, a lot of people are never gonna have to be outside, right?

CALLER: Yep.

RUSH: As long as you’re willing to walk a couple of miles every day.

CALLER: Well, no, it’s all very compact. It’s all within, really, about a mile square. It’s gonna be neat. It’s gonna be a lot of folks from Chicago, Cincinnati, the Midwest are gonna probably come in here and make us all rich. That’s what we’re hoping.

RUSH: Yeah. Well, everything has its price.

CALLER: Hey, I just wanted to call and say I am not a Republican establishment guy. I support Richard Murdoch over our moribund incumbent Senator Lugar, but I believe Mitch Daniels has been wrongly criticized as being moderate, and my point to you, Rush, is I believe he is, if not the most conservative governor, he is among the most, and he has been extremely successful here. Now, he’s a little bit moderate in how he expresses very conservative ideas. But he’s been a social conservative, a fiscal conservative, and he has done everything he can to build the business climate in this state. And I believe he would have been a great president. As a matter of fact, I called you last May to tell you he was definitely running. I don’t know what I’m talking about, but he is —

RUSH: I remember! You’re the guy! You called and gave me grief the last time you called, didn’t you?

CALLER: I did indeed.

RUSH: And you’re moderately giving me grief now. That’s why you called because I referred to Mitch Daniels today as a moderate on some things. So you hustled to the phones, you start punching the numbers.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: And, lo and behold, by quirk of fate you lucked out and got through.

CALLER: You got it. That’s exactly right.

RUSH: Do you realize how many poor people have been dialing their phones for 23 years and not gotten in? Here you are, a rich guy in Indianapolis, no sweat, every time you dial you get through.

CALLER: (laughing) It pays to have a fast dialing cell phone, I guess.

RUSH: (laughing.)

CALLER: But I’m just telling you, I agree with you that a lot of the establishment folks would want Mitch to run.

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: To be honest, I don’t think he has the stomach to fight it out like Romney and Newt are. He’s just… I don’t think he has that kind of gut for it, but I believe him when he says did it for his family. He’s a really good guy.

RUSH: What do you mean, you don’t think he’s got the guts?

CALLER: Not “the guts,” the gut. I don’t think he’s got the stomach to attack his fellow Republicans in a way that he’d have to.

RUSH: Oh. Oh. I thought you meant he didn’t have the stomach to be attacked, and I can’t see that.

CALLER: No, no, no, no. No.

RUSH: Really. I think he wanted to run, didn’t he? It was his wife that didn’t?

CALLER: I think he did.

RUSH: In fact, I told you when you called, whatever it was, six months ago, it was last April or May —

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: — almost ten months ago when I first was told point-blank. I was told by three, high-ranking Republicans –they were still talking to me then —

CALLER: (chuckles)

RUSH: — that there was no way. This is ten, 11 months ago. They said no way Mitch Daniels is gonna run. His wife won’t let him. His wife wants no part of it. All of this is a game. There people told me this. “This stuff about Mitch running and gauging it. It isn’t going to happen.” I was told by three people. It turned out to be they were exactly right.

CALLER: Yeah, and I made a completely fool of myself by telling you he would and a week later he said he wouldn’t but it really wasn’t to hide any dirty laundry on his part.

RUSH: I remember you because you made it sound like you were in his inner circle.

CALLER: (laughs)

RUSH: It was like you knew for a fact got a not only gonna run but he was gonna win, like he was the best thing since melba toast and Swiss cheese.

CALLER: No, exactly, but I’m nowhere near his inner circle. He did call me one time, but that’s a long story. I wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal. It got published, and he called to thank me. He doesn’t know me from Adam.

RUSH: What are you, a groupie, a stalker kind of guy?

CALLER: (laughing) Yeah, a little bit. (laughing) No, no, no. I’m just a politically active. I’m a radical, right-wing nut from Indiana, I guess. I don’t know what else to tell you.

RUSH: Yeah, well, I’m glad to hear from you. I’m glad you got through again. I gotta take a break here, John. I appreciate the phone call. By the way, for those of you who are pondering this brokered convention possibility, it’s out there, and there are people fantasizing about it. “Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele,” who left the RNC straight for MSNBC, by the way. Michael Steele said “the idea that another Republican candidate, presidential candidate entering the race in February is outright stupid.” Quote, “There are 13 states after Florida that still have deadlines that are open that haven’t been reached yet, anybody can jump in. But that means you’re only on the ballot in 13 states. Every other state’s closed.”

You can’t file. You can’t get on the ballot in 37 states. They’re already closed. The only states somebody entering the race now can get into, if you do it as a Republican, is 13 states. And, of course, Mitch Daniels would never run third party. So the idea that… For somebody other than one of the four that are out there now to get in, the rules would have to be totally blown up. The state party chair men, everybody would have to go along with the rules being totally blown up. All these candidates who have raised all this money and all these people who have donated all this money would have to go along with the idea, “You know, guess what? We don’t like what’s happening. We’re blowing up the process. We’re throwing it out. We’re started fresh at the convention.” It’s not gonna happen. Not that way. But, remember, it is politics — and that means there are politicians involved, and that means (chuckling). You know exactly what it means. Nothing matters!