INDIANAPOLIS — Tom Brady doesn’t think back to his time at Michigan much. This week, especially, he’s too consumed with preparing for a Giants defense determined to make his life miserable to focus on anything else.

But Brady said in the buildup for Super Bowl XLVI last week he wouldn’t be where he is today — a win away from joining Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with four Super Bowl rings — without his five seasons as a Wolverine.

• Related: More Freep.com Super Bowl coverage | Super Bowl coverage, galleries, special features from USA Today/Indianapolis Star

“I think I was very fortunate in college to go through some pretty stiff competition,” Brady said. “A lot of the lessons that I learned when I was 18, 19 years old have served me well when I was 23 and 24. This game is about competition. You have to compete every single day in practice, because if you don’t, you’re not going to be around very long.”

Brady’s path from contentious college starter to NFL icon is well documented.

He went 20-5 as a starter at Michigan, but split time as a senior with local schoolboy legend Drew Henson.

In the 2000 NFL draft, Brady fell to the sixth round, pick No. 199 overall, and was the seventh quarterback taken. The luminaries in front of him: Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger and Spergon Wynn.

That group served to motivate Brady, who barely played as a rookie and has barely come off the field since.

Drew Bledsoe was injured in the second game of the 2001 season, and Brady started the final 14 games. He led the Patriots to a 44-13 victory in his first career start and their first Super Bowl later that year, 20-17, over the St. Louis Rams.

In the 10 years since, Brady has two more Super Bowl rings — the Patriots won back-to-back titles in 2004-05 over the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles — and two NFL MVP awards.

But he also missed most of the 2008 season with a knee injury and experienced the sting of losing a Super Bowl, four years ago to the same Giants he’ll face today.

“I don’t think it’s just that 2000 NFL draft (that motivates me),” Brady said. “What you’re always trying to do as an athlete is prove it to yourself. You go through a college career and think you do a decent job — not that you get overlooked, it’s just that there are other guys who they feel can do a better job — so you just keep working hard, you just keep believing in yourself and looking for your opportunity.”

Pressure cooker

Brady was at the top of the NFL when the Patriots and Giants squared off in the Arizona desert four years ago and New York had the perfect blueprint to beat him.

They harassed him with their defensive line, rolled up five sacks and held New England’s high-powered offense to 14 points, the second-lowest total by any Super Bowl team in the past 10 years.

Brady suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament seven months later, and some Giants say they’ve seen a different quarterback in the four years since.

“I think (our pass rush) will have much impact on his performance, because if you look at Week 9, when we played them, it’s like he felt us,” defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said.

Pierre-Paul, who led the Giants and was fourth in the NFL with 16 1/2 sacks this season, said Brady reacted to pressure in that game “that didn’t exist.”

The Giants beat the Patriots in the regular season, 24-20, and Brady threw two interceptions in one of his worst performances of the season.

But New England hasn’t lost since, and Brady didn’t make much of Pierre-Paul’s pregame bravado.

“They’re a confident team,” Brady said. “We’re pretty confident, too. I think that’s why we’re going to show up on Sunday night and give it our best.”

High stakes

The accomplishments of coach Bill Belichick — who could join Chuck Noll as the only coaches with four Super Bowl titles — and Brady will be forever linked, but Brady is under the biggest spotlight tonight.

He didn’t play his best in the AFC title game, he hasn’t played great historically against the Giants, and he’s still looking for something to wash away the hurt of that last Super Bowl loss.

“I remember waking up in Arizona the next morning after an hour of sleep, thinking, ‘That was a nightmare. That didn’t happen,’ ” Brady said. “After time you learn to move on.

“The winning, the things that go along with winning, those are really special memories that you have with a lot of close friends. It’s a great feeling.”

And one Brady is hoping to experience again.

Contact Dave Birkett: 313-222-8831 or dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @freeplions.

Join Free Press sports writer Carlos Monarrez for a live blog of the Super Bowl on Sunday evening at freep.com/sports.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The economy, unemployment and political dislike of President Barack Obama were on the minds of Nevada Republicans who fanned out across the state Saturday — some braving freezing temperatures before sunrise, others braving caucus confusion — to cast their vote for a GOP presidential nominee.

GOP caucuses began as early as 7 a.m. in the state capital of Carson City, with a “vote and go” option for shift workers and others unable to attend the regular caucus meeting. Depending on the county, caucuses were scheduled at various times throughout the day, the last scheduled for 7 p.m.

Rita Homer and her husband, Brad, were the first in line when the doors opened in Carson City around sunrise.

For them, unemployment and immigration are the biggest concerns in this year’s presidential race. They voted for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“He has some off-the-wall ideas, but I have no problem with that,” said Rita Homer, 60, an office manager and tea party backer. “If he wants someone on the moon, let’s get there first.”

By midday, some caucuses were in full swing, with voters debating the attributes and shortcomings of the four remaining GOP hopefuls — Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

Others were over quickly, sparking anger from latecomers at one site in Henderson. About three dozen voters were turned away from Green Valley High School when they showed up after the fact.

Party officials chalked it up to a learning experience, saying some voters are still unfamiliar with how caucuses work, believing they can show up at any time and cast a ballot.

“Contact the party and complain,” precinct captain Dale Napier told some disgruntled voters.

Nevada changed from a presidential primary to a caucus state in 2000 — and many bemoan the switch. Petitions were being circulated at some GOP caucuses to go back to primaries.

“This whole process disenfranchises too many people,” said Carol Howell, site manager in Carson City. “We lose early voting and absentee voting. Most people don’t understand the process.”

Statewide, 1,835 GOP precincts were meeting at 125 caucus sites.

More than 1,000 people were at a middle school in Sparks.

Vinney Tolman, a 35-year-old small business owner, was backing Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who won Nevada four years ago and was favored to repeat on Saturday.

“He has some ethics and morals that are going to be a stable foundation for his policies,” Tolman said.

Rosemary Millet, 56, liked Romney’s business experience.

“We need a financial genius at this point and I think he’s it,” she said in Carson City.

Charlene Bybee, a Sparks flight attendant and tea party organizer, said former House Speaker Gingrich was the better candidate because he talks about “facts, not rhetoric.”

In the Las Vegas community of Summerlin, Steve Commander bounced around a middle school science classroom wearing a tea party lapel pin and a tie spangled with $100 bills.

He serenaded volunteers with a rendition of the Sammy Davis Jr. song, “I’ve Gotta Be Me.”

“I’m excited about the America that was and will be,” said Commander, 67, a former adviser to Sharron Angle in her failed bid to unseat Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Republicans this year are hoping to generate the kind of buzz and voter enthusiasm that Democrats garnered in 2008 to propel Obama to the White House.

At Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas, about 1,200 people from 26 precincts turned out, and by 10 a.m. most had finished voting.

“We had some minor issues and had to call the central party office to verify registered voters,” said site manager Tom Thomas. “A few showed up late after their precincts finished. We didn’t turn anyone away.”

A special 7 p.m. caucus was to be held to accommodate religious voters in Clark County who celebrate the Saturday Sabbath. Caucus results will be released by the state Party via Twitter and Google.

Romney was a projected favorite, though all of the candidates had their share of backers.

Jeff Coppens, 45, and his wife decided just before the caucus to support Santorum, and dismissed talk that Romney was the presumptive Republican nominee.

“I feel differently that Romney’s the only one who can beat Obama,” Coppens said, adding that Santorum “is consistent on what he says and very tough.”

The Nevada caucuses are the first-in-the-West Republican presidential contest and the fifth in the nation.

Romney carried the state four years ago, benefiting in part by the large Mormon presence in Nevada.

Paul, a Texas congressman, finished second in Nevada in 2008, and was counting on continued support Saturday from a loyal base and voters like Ruth Dodrill who are attracted to his libertarian, anti-government and anti-tax message.

“I doubt he will make it, but I still believe there are steps this country needs to make to get its economics in shape,” said Dodrill, 76, a former teacher. “Government should not be running anything. That’s unconstitutional.”

State GOP leaders expect 50,000 to 60,000 voters — out of 400,000 active registered Republicans in Nevada — to participate. At stake are 28 delegates to this summer’s Republican nominating convention that will be awarded proportionally based on the outcome of Saturday’s contest.

All four candidates crisscrossed the state this week, trying to woo voters in a state that has been slow to recover from the economic blows of the Great Recession.

Nevada’s unemployment rate has been highest in the nation since May 2010, soaring to just shy of 15 percent later that year. By December 2011, the rate receded to 12.6 percent, but more than 166,000 people remained out of work.

The collapse of the housing market left a majority of homeowners underwater on mortgages, and one in every 177 homes was in foreclosure in December, also the highest rate in the nation.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels, Ken Ritter and Oskar Garcia in Las Vegas and Scott Sonner and Martin Griffith in Reno contributed to this report.

Following up on a month’s worth of tumult and accusations and controversy, five-star safety Landon Collins has officially faxed — yes, they still utilize those “ancient” machines — his signed Letter of Intent to Alabama and is a member of the Tide’s 2012 recruiting class, the school announced Wednesday afternoon.

While Collins’ play on the field earned him the five-star rating, it was his mother that lifted his notoriety to an unprecedented national level.

At the Under Armour All-American game early last month, Collins gave his verbal commitment — over the very public objections of his mother April Justin — to the Tide.  Later that month, Justin expressed her displeasure over an in-home visit from Nick Saban in which she felt the UA head coach “stereotyped” her, then leveled additional accusations regarding a job for her son’s girlfriend as well as hinting Collins could be in for a red/greyshirt.

In the end, and despite his mother wanting him stay in his home state and sign with LSU, Collins stuck to his verbal commitment and is one of the newest members of the Tide football program.  As we stated in the past, hopefully Collins’ on-field talent is worth all of the off-field hiccups that have gotten him to this point.

And that we’ve seen the last of the hiccups for the recruit’s sake.

By Bryan Monroe, CNNPolitics.com Editor

updated 6:58 PM EST, Tue January 31, 2012

Gingrich, Romney grudge match in Florida

Tune in to CNN now for live coverage of the Florida primary results. Watch it all live on CNN.com/Live and CNN’s mobile apps.

(CNN) — With the results from the critical Florida primary coming in tonight, here are a few answers to the top questions:

How many delegates are on the table tonight?

There are 50. Originally, 99 delegates were at stake in Florida, until the state Republicans broke the rules. They are being penalized by the Republican National Committee for moving their primary up into January — violating the tradition of contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada going first — and will lose 50% of their delegates.

Will Florida determine a front-runner?

So tonight’s primary, while the biggest so far, will be worth just 50 delegates in a winner-take-all contest.

What time will things happen?

Most polls in Florida close at 7 p.m. ET. However, a handful of counties in the Panhandle, in the northwestern corner of the state, are in the Central Time Zone, so polls there close 8 p. m. ET (7 p. m. local time).

We should start seeing actual vote returns when most polls close at 7 p.m. ET on CNNPolitics.com and live on CNN-TV. But, in keeping with longstanding policy, CNN will not project any winner until after 8 p.m. ET when all the polls in the state have closed.

A sign guides voters to the polls in Panama City, Florida, on Tuesday. Fifty delegates are at stake in the GOP presidential primary.

Why Is Florida different than the other early states?

Florida is a Big Deal. The fourth and largest of the early contests, The Sunshine state is like no other.

Get up-to-the-minute news on our live blog

It’s a complex state that has diversity — 22% of the population is Latino, two out of five are non-white. It faces economic challenges — high unemployment and a heavy home foreclosure rate. And it features dramatic regional variances — big cities such as Miami, Orlando and Tampa and rural communities in the north and Panhandle. And don’t forget the 2000 elections and hanging chads.

What’s next?

The winner of the Florida primary will likely emerge as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, a prize that could definitely garner increased fundraising, the coalescing of the party around him, and, of course, momentum.

Still, with 2,177 delegates and 46 states left before the Republican convention starts up in late August in Tampa, the race is not even close to being over.

Next up are the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, with 28 delegates at stake. Then the candidates turn their attention to the mini-Tuesday primaries on February 7, when Minnesota and Colorado hold caucuses and Missouri has a primary, and 128 delegates in total will be up for grabs.

After that, the next big showdown will be Super Tuesday on March 6, where 11 states hold contests on the same day, and as many as 441 delegates will be at stake.

Between now and then, there are very real options for the other candidates to mount a formidable run by focusing on the volatile caucus states or mounting a campaign against the front-runner.

It’s only January; anything can still happen.

CNN’s Robert Yoon contributed to this report.

Incoming search terms:

Read More: Ben Roethlisberger (QB – PIT), Larry Fitzgerald (WR – ), Aaron Rodgers (QB – ), Drew Brees (QB – ), Jimmy Graham (TE – ), Cleveland Browns

So far there has been very little defense played in the 2012 Pro Bowl as both Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have thrown for more than 140 yards and two touchdowns each. Both teams have seen a ton of passing and the result is a 28-28 tie as each team has four passing touchdowns.

Ben Roethlisberger has also had a solid day as the AFC starter before he retired to the bench. Roethlisberger threw for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but he and Phillip Rivers have each thrown an interception so far. With all the passing, the receivers in the game are naturally having a huge day.

Jimmy Graham, Tony Gonzalez, and Larry Fitzgerald each have over 70 yards receiving for the NFC. Fitzgerald caught the game’s first two touchdowns. The AFC would not be outdone, as River threw his second touchdown pass of the game on the final play of the first half to tie the score as time expired.

For more on the Cleveland Browns, go to Dawgs By Nature. You can also head over to SB Nation’s main NFL hub at SBNation.com/NFL.

Nike chairman Phil Knight got a standing ovation for his remarks at Joe Paterno’s memorial service. A crowd of 12,000 attended the service at Penn State University.

Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight got a standing ovation at Joe Paterno‘s public memorial Thursday for defending the late coach’s response to an accusation of child sex abuse against a former assistant.

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Speaking at a public memorial service, Knight said that, “If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation, and not in Joe Paterno’s response.”

The remark drew a standing ovation from the crowd of 12,000 — with Paterno’s widow, Sue, and former defensive coordinator, Tom Bradley, among those rising to their feet.

IN PICTURES: Remembering Joe Paterno

Knight’s comment seemed to refer to Paterno’s failure to alert anyone beyond his superiors at the school when he was told of a sex abuse allegation against former assistant Jerry Sandusky. That inaction was a major reason university trustees fired him on Nov. 9, less than three months before his death.

Knight also asked, “Who is the real trustee at Penn State University?”

Thursday’s memorial service followed a funeral and burial on Wednesday.

Quiet mourners lined the route of Joe Paterno’s funeral procession Wednesday, watching with grief and reverence as the electric-blue hearse carrying the Penn State coach’s casket slowly drove by.

Some took pictures with their cell phones, or waved to his widow. Others craned their necks hoping for a better glimpse through the crowd sometimes four deep or more.

The private funeral and burial service capped another emotional day for a campus and community pained over Paterno’s death from lung cancer Sunday at age 85, and over the way his stellar career ended — being fired by university trustees Nov. 9 in the wake of child sex-abuse charges against a former assistant.

Thousands of students, alumni and fans took to the streets in and around Penn State to say their last goodbyes to the football coach who grew into a beloved figure in Happy Valley, not only for his five undefeated seasons but for his love of the school and his generosity.

“He cared about the kids. He wanted to see us succeed. So for a lot of us, he became a grandfather-like figure,” Jordan Derk, a senior from York, said after the procession went past Beaver Stadium.

“He loved us and we loved him back,” Derk said. “So saying goodbye is very tough.”

Jay Paterno, the coach’s son and quarterbacks coach, sent a message to the mourners via Twitter.

“Thank you to all the people who turned out for my father’s procession,” he wrote. “Very moving.”

The elder Paterno won two national titles and a Division I record 409 games over 46 seasons as head coach. His cancer was disclosed just nine days after he was forced to leave the football program he had worked with since 1950.

But Wednesday was once again a salute to Paterno’s life and accomplishments. The service, a Roman Catholic Mass, was attended by a veritable who’s who of Penn State and Paterno connections.

Paterno’s family arrived about an hour before the funeral service on two blue school buses, the same kind the coach and his team rode to home games on fall Saturdays. His wife of nearly six decades, Sue, sat in the seat traditionally reserved for her husband and was first off the bus, followed by Jay.

Former defensive coordinator Tom Bradley walked to the service with NFL great Franco Harris. Also in attendance were other ex-NFL players including Matt Millen and Todd Blackledge, both now TV analysts. Nike founder Phil Knight and actor William Baldwin were there, too.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight got a standing ovation at Joe Paterno’s public memorial Thursday for defending the late coach’s response to an accusation of child sex abuse against a former assistant.

At a ceremony filled with lavish praise that would likely have embarrassed the school’s beloved coach, Knight waded into a subject that had been virtually ignored since Paterno died on Sunday from lung cancer — the immediate cause of his firing after 46 seasons leading Penn State’s football team to a record-setting 409 wins.

University trustees have said a major reason Paterno was ousted Nov. 9 was that he failed to alert anyone beyond his two superiors at the school when he was told of an abuse allegation against former assistant Jerry Sandusky in 2002. Sandusky was charged with dozens of child sex abuse counts on Nov. 5, two school officials were charged with perjury and former school president Graham Spanier was pushed out the same night as Paterno.

Commenting on those events, Knight said, “it turns out (Paterno) gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation.”

Knight added, “…this much is clear to me. If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno.”

The remark drew a standing ovation from the crowd of 12,000 at the Bryce Jordan Center — with Paterno’s widow, Sue, and former defensive coordinator, Tom Bradley, among those rising to their feet.

“Who is the real trustee at Penn State University?” Knight asked.

The campus has been torn by anger over the Sandusky scandal and Paterno’s firing, but this week thousands of alumni, fans, students and former players in Happy Valley have remembered Paterno for his stellar career, his love for the school and his generosity.

That made Knight’s remarks even more surprising.

Paterno’s son and former quarterbacks coach, Jay, also got a standing ovation near the end of the ceremony when he imitated his raised-in-Brooklyn father’s voice, telling the audience to “Sit down! Sit down!”

Then, growing serious, he told the crowd, “Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience.”

Earlier in ceremony, the focus was praise for Paterno and fond memories.

“Bless us this day as we honor and celebrate one of your greatest gifts to the world — Joe Paterno,” the Rev. Matthew Laffey said in the opening prayer.

A short time later, after a video montage, former star Penn State quarterback Todd Blackledge said, “No one individual has ever done more for a university anywhere in the country than what Joe Paterno did for this school.”

The line drew applause, and Blackledge was followed on the podium in the darkened arena by Lauren Perrotti, a Penn State student and Paterno fellow.

Thursday’s event brought to a close the public mourning period for Paterno.

Public viewings were held Tuesday and Wednesday morning at a campus spiritual center, followed by a funeral Mass, procession and burial for Paterno that afternoon.

___

Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

COMMENTARY | Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in response to the State of the Union address by Barack Obama. President Obama discussed the “Buffett Rule,” which says essentially that very wealthy people should shoulder a fair share of the nation’s tax burden, according to CBS. Cantor attempted to sting Obama in his commentary — but was Cantor’s speech honest?

Warren Buffett’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, is said to have paid a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss, according to the Washington Post. Cantor claimed to “care about Warren Buffett’s secretary,” according to Politico. Cantor rhetoric then took a confusing turn by trying to pass the buck for his own party’s policies and blame the tax inequality problem on the Obama Administration.

Let’s take a quick look at the facts.

If you examine the tax history chart from the Tax Policy Center you can see what the highest tax rates have been since income taxes were established. The top tax rate has been exactly the same since the Bush tax cuts for tax year 2003. The Obama administration has not raised the marginal income tax level.

Here’s another fact you can see: During the Reagan-Bush I era the highest tax rate dropped like a rock while the economy tanked. During the Clinton years it was raised a bit, and the economy prospered. During the Bush II era it dropped again, and look, what a shock — the economy tanked.

If Buffett pays a lower tax rate than Bosanek it’s not because Obama made her pay more. It’s because right-wing administrations keep lowering the taxes, letting rich people pay less.

The lesson to be learned here is that a nation cannot prosper while the wealthy continue a class war against the poor and redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich by failing to pay their fair share.

If the Obama administration is to blame in any way for this situation it’s by failing to raise taxes on the wealthy investor class to reverse the catastrophic harm caused by the unending efforts of the right wing to protect the rich.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — President Barack Obama, following up on his annual State of the Union address to Congress, defended the government’s role in ensuring fairness Wednesday and rejected accusations from Republicans that he is engaging class warfare as his re-election bid begins.

Obama spoke at the start of a three-day tour of politically crucial states to sell his 2012 economic policy goals and pitch his presidency to a divided public. Fresh from his address to a joint session of Congress, Obama sought to boost his ideas for more manufacturing on American soil by showcasing a conveyor belt component manufacturer in the battleground state of Iowa and an Intel plant in Arizona.

Running for re-election against Republicans who’ve questioned his economic stewardship, the president said he wants to restore the basic promise of America, “and it starts with manufacturing.” Inside the factory, speaking to roughly 300 workers and guests, Obama was flanked by machinery and a banner with his latest slogan: “America Built to Last.”

Presidential travel following the State of the Union is commonplace, allowing presidents to temporarily bask in the afterglow of their prime-time performances, milking their message before key constituencies.

Obama’s trip comes amid signs of economic improvements, even as battling Republican presidential contenders appeal to conservatives by sounding increasingly hostile to his policies.

Promoting his opportunity-for-all economic agenda, Obama said that “America is not about handouts” but people do expect their shot at success.

“There’s no reason why we can’t restore the basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well,” Obama said from a manufacturing plant. He said most people don’t have unrealistic ambitions about their economic future but they do want to own a home, save for retirement and “achieve that small measure of an American dream.”

Obama will highlight energy security Thursday in the western swing states of Nevada and Colorado and wrap up Friday by pushing education and training proposals at the University of Michigan in yet another battleground state.

Republicans have blasted Obama for offering divisive politics and pushing a greater role for government intervention in people’s lives. “Iowans are still waiting for Obama to deliver on the promises of his campaign and his first term,” said Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus.

Obama shot back that Republicans would prefer a world in which people are left on their own, saying he wants to lead a nation in which hard work has rewards.

The president is pushing a litany of tax proposals that he said would boost manufacturing jobs, from removing tax deductions for companies when they move their operations overseas to creating a new tax credit to offset expenses for moving operations back to the U.S. Other proposals included doubling tax deductions for advanced manufacturing, extending tax credits for clean energy projects and creating new tax credits to encourage companies to relocate in communities that suffered a major job loss, like the closing of a plant.

Obama economic advisers said the administration would seek a minimum corporate tax for multinational companies, closing a loophole that allows companies to shift profits overseas.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) gave a perfectly serviceable speech last night. It was a bit dull, maybe, but it wasn’t a wrenching exercise in self-humiliation. Which is to say, by the standards of post-SOTU responses, it was a stunning, historic success. But it was also a reminder of the difficulties Daniels, a fantasy-draft presidential pick for many Republicans, would face if he entered the campaign.

These policies cannot all be laid at Daniels’ feet. It is unlikely that Bush’s budget director was heavily involved in the decision to enter Iraq — though Daniels did produce short-term cost estimates that helped reassure Congress, quite wrongly, that the war would be swift and affordable. But the same cannot be said for the Medicare expansion, or the tax cuts. And as the New York Times has pointed out, these policies, together, have done more damage to the deficit than any legislation signed into law under President Obama.

Perhaps this wouldn’t matter if George W. Bush was revered by Republicans. But he isn’t. Bush left office one of the most unpopular presidents of all time. Under his watch, deficits soared despite an economic expansion. Under his watch, we suffered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and the oceans of red ink that we face today are just one of its many aftereffects. The Tea Party was, in large part, a reaction to the damage Bush did to the Republican Party. And today, it is common for conservatives to admit that the Bush years were characterized by an inexcusable profligacy, and to swear that such a spectacle will never again repeat itself.

Daniels has not been profligate as governor of Indiana. Quite the opposite, actually. And when compared to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry and Tim Pawlenty, he looks pretty good. But everyone looks pretty good before they enter the campaign. See, for example, Rick Perry and Tim Pawlenty. Indeed, at one time, this field looked good enough that Daniels’ family was able to persuade him not to run — an argument that must, in part, have been based on the belief that he was likely to lose.

If Daniels did enter the campaign, he would cease to be an example of sober Republican governance and immediately become a threat to a field of experienced, well-financed, defensive candidates. They would hang him with the mistakes of the Bush years. There would be endless articles by reporters looking into exactly what role Daniels played in costing out the Iraq War, and selling the tax cuts. There would be investigations into whether it was really proper for Daniels, an Eli Lilly executive through the 90s, to have gone from working at a pharmaceutical giant to working on Medicare Part D for the Bush administration.

And then there are Daniels post-Bush administration heterodoxies. There would be a raft of attacks over Daniels’ 2005 proposal to impose a surtax of one percent on income over $100,000—a proposal that was killed by the Republican Speaker of the House in Indiana, and that would quickly be dubbed “Obamanomics” in the primary. There have already been attacks on Daniels’ efforts to expand Medicaid in Indiana — a proposal that Cato’s Michael Cannon called “Daniels’ Obamacare problem.”

Daniels would, in sum, face an unusually acute version of a problem that has afflicted almost every other candidate in the Republican race. Over the past decade, the Republican Party has disowned a Republican president and rejected a slew of once-uncontroversial policies. But though the Republican Party can change its positions, Republican politicians can’t change their pasts. This has proven a problem for not only Romney and Gingrich, but also more generic conservatives like Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman. Daniels, who has both been a policy-minded governor and a key figure in the Bush administration, would have a lot to answer for.

Perhaps Daniels could withstand these attacks. Perhaps the Republican establishment would rally around him. Perhaps he would quickly emerge as the frontrunner. But it’s just as possible that Daniels wouldn’t be ready for their ferocity. He wouldn’t be prepared for the rigors of the campaign. He would have an organization capable of protecting him. he would make mistakes. He wouldn’t know every skeleton hiding in his closet, and he wouldn’t be ready for some of the attacks that came his way. Perhaps, in his desperation to make up for lost time, he would attack the frontrunners in a way that would backfire and damage his brand. Soon, he would look like just another in the race’s long line of disappointments.

A year ago, I had hoped Daniels would enter the race. He has been an unusually responsible voice in the Republican policy establishment. Unlike much of his party, which had contented itself with pure opposition, Daniels had proposed plausible deals that Republicans could strike with the Obama administration on health care and stimulus. But the fact that Daniels would have been a worthy addition to the field doesn’t mean he would have had an easy time as a candidate in this field, much less that he could enter, at this late date, without following the pattern of most late-entry candidates and finding himself quickly tossed aside.