Another Midwest governor prompts White House whispers

This article is the 18th in the White House Wednesday series by The World and Everything in It looking at potential 2016 candidates for president. Earlier installments profiled Republicans Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker, and John Kasich, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Andrew Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Bernie Sanders.

Mike Pence, Indiana’s Republican governor, needs no introduction in his home state, but he’s not as well-known across the nation. Earlier this year, Pence hinted that he might want to change that when he addressed some issues that don’t usually concern governors.

“With Russian aggression on the rise again, it’s clear that our policy of conciliatory diplomacy has failed,” Pence said in Berlin during an April trade mission to Germany. He also has weighed in on the war against ISIS, slamming President Barack Obama for his address at the United Nations in which he questioned Israel’s commitment to achieving peace. His statements on foreign policy and his visits to key states such as Iowa and New Hampshire have stoked speculation he might run for president in 2016.

Inside the Republican Party, Pence made a name for himself as a six-term congressman before he ran for governor of Indiana in 2012. Prior to that, he was a private-practice attorney, the president of a conservative think tank in Indiana, and the host of a radio talk show. Pence is 55, married, and has three kids. He describes himself as Christian, conservative, and Republican, in that order.

In his years on Capitol Hill, Pence was well regarded by conservative groups because of his stance on a wide range of issues from fiscal to family and social.

He also earned conservative praise for his voting record on priorities such as gun rights and education, even splitting from other Republicans during the Bush administration.

“When I opposed the members of my own party and the president on things like No Child Left Behind and the prescription drug entitlement, I warned him that if we walked away from the principles that minted our national governing majority, the American people would walk away from us,” Pence said.

Pence was an early member of the House tea party caucus and a leading force in the GOP’s rededication to conservative principles after the disastrous-for-Republicans 2008 election. But some conservatives say that, as governor,Pencehas lost his way.

Under Pence, a state program called the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) expands coverage by way of Medicaid. HIP provides low-income people health savings accounts, with enrollees chipping in to their accounts and Medicaid matching the funds. More than 60,000 signed up for HIP accounts that participants then used to cover medical costs.

Backers of the HIP expansion refer to it as “consumer-driven healthcare.” But critics say HIP 2.0, which could cover as many as 400,000 additional people, is just a Medicaid expansion under another name. HIP 2.0 differs from the original program in a number of ways. Critics say it will diminish incentives to work and put federal and state taxpayers on the hook for billions.

As governor, Pence has also taken heat on education. Though Indiana was the first state to reject Common Core, critics say the state’s replacement standards were really just “Common Core warmed over.”

Still, on balance, Pence’s record as governor has been unmistakably conservative. He has greatly expanded private school vouchers, cut spending, blocked new regulations, and signed off on a cut to Indiana’s corporate tax rate. Indiana’s economy has improved over the past two years. Unemployment there is now lower than the national average.

Pence has the resume to be a serious candidate for president with 12 years in Congress coupled with what will be 4 years as governor. He has a positive record and a strong approval rating.

It’s difficult, however, to run for president as a sitting governor, especially after only one term. Is he prepared to jeopardize his governorship or just step out altogether and not run for reelection in Indiana? That’s a tough decision to make, but it does seem like he’s giving it some real thought.

Listen to Kent Covington and Nick Eicher discuss Mike Pence’s possible run for president on The World and Everything in It: