Daniels: I could have beaten Obama

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has opted not to join the Republican presidential field, said he would have won the White House if he were in the race.

“Yes, I think so,” Daniels responded when asked about beating President Obama head-to-head. “I mean, no one can know.”

{mosads}A two-term governor and former Bush administration official, he was considered a top prospect of the GOP, and he was being urged to run by top members of his party. But in the end, he decided to sit out 2012.

Daniels cited the concerns of his family as the reason he’s passing on a chance to claim the Oval Office.

“It was uncomfortable to feel two duties that I am very passionate about, but in the end, it wasn’t really any question which came first to me,” he said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“If it weren’t for the cheap shots and the, you know, personal unfairnesses that would come with it, there’s also just the inevitable loss of privacy, the security, all of that.”