Daniels had been advised by an event organizer to stay inside the vehicle until the choir sang a song.

The Republican candidate for governor wanted to jump out a good two blocks before a three block-long convoy reached the county seat from the fairgrounds. He had opened the long vehicle's side door many times to greet people along Bronson and Center streets who hoped to just catch a glimpse of the man running against Gov. Joe Kernan for the state's top seat.

"I just have to get out there," he said from the passenger seat of RV-1 and out he went, to cheers, when the parade ended. He was greeted by former Gov. Otis R. Bowen, who is endorsing the candidate, along with State Sen. Kent Adams.

Daniels praised the spirit of the rally, organized by John Elliott of Warsaw.

"I'm really moved in so many ways," he said. "I tried to put the personal touch back in the campaign. We have tens of thousands of miles and countless stops behind us now. And you have restored the personal touch here that very few places do these days. It's a marvelous

experience for me to be here."

Daniels said the last 16 months, since he started his campaign for governor, had been fun. Famous for what he calls the "Mitch mooch," a practice of staying overnight in guest rooms, spare rooms and children's rooms, Daniels hasn't spent one night in a hotel. One morning he would find himself surrounded by a child's pink bunnies and another night the blinking lights of a computer would lull him to sleep.

"These marvelous encounters are about over now," he said.

He recalled talking to four women during the State Fair. Three had "My Man Mitch" stickers and the fourth woman did not. After learning their names and a little bit about them, he asked the stickerless woman whether there were stickers available or if she was just undecided.

"'Oh no,' she said, 'I love you, but my ex-husband was named Mitch and I just couldn't bring myself to put it on,'" Daniels related. "I whipped out my ever-present Sharpie and got a T-shirt and wrote 'new' on there so it read 'My New Man Mitch,' and said, 'Here, try that.'"

Daniels talked about people he has met, about two Ivy Tech students studying for new careers in Marion to replace their factory jobs; about a woman who carved lawn ornaments for a living and who had taken in a friend with cancer; about a waitress who chased down a customer to return a dropped $20 bill.

"Those are the kind of people who make up this state, the kind of people I've been spending time with the last 16 months ... on whose behalf we have got to lead a great comeback for the state of Indiana. We've tried to give you a kind of campaign we can win and a kind of campaign we've been equally proud of. The kind of campaign Otis Bowen used to run," he said.

"I just felt it was so important to do this," Daniels said of the campaign, "because the way we win is so important. Nobody is here for the thrill of victory for the Republicans to win and the Democrats to lose.

"Eleven nights from now is not the end point. The starting line is the next morning to bring this state back in line. And therefore it matters so much how we campaign, in a way that I hope lifts people up, to know what our opportunity is, to know how many things we can do in this state. How great our potential is versus our present performance."

Daniels said something very interesting began to happen six months ago. People began to give him pictures of their children. He admired them and began to hand them back. And they said, "No, I want you to keep this, I wrote their name on the back. This is why you have to win."

"If I could hold this entire election among people under 30, I would do it in a flash. Young people have caught the scent, gotten a whiff, that there is a side that is the same, stale old, same old, and there is a side that a coming side, a new force in town that says, 'We love you, we care about you, come along with us, let's build a great Indiana.'"

Ex-Gov. Doc Bowen introduced Daniels. He said it takes four things to win an election: one, a good candidate - and he called Daniels a superb candidate - organization, money and programs for the state's future. "And Mitch has proposals all ready to get Indiana started again," Bowen said.

Preceding Daniels' talk at the rally were U.S. Representative for the Third District Mark Souder, State Senate candidate Ryan Mishler, State Rep. Bill Friend and Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine. [[In-content Ad]]