Daniels says he has no interest in vice presidential nomination

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who declined to seek the U.S. presidency this year, said he isn’t interested in being selected as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

“I would like to believe there are ways a desperately concerned citizen can contribute” without running for a top national office, Daniels, a former head of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, said at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference in Indianapolis. Daniels said he has no regrets about deciding not to seek the Republican presidential nomination.

“This was never anything I lusted in my heart to do,” he said.

Daniels declined to offer an opinion on whether former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich or Texas Rep. Ron Paul should stay in the Republican primary contest.

“It’s not for me to say,” Daniels said. Both Gingrich and Paul trail former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and onetime Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in the Republican race.

The proliferation of new media allows candidates to remain viable for longer than in previous election cycles, Daniels said.