Barbour: "en primavera"

El Gobernador Haley Barbour, de Mississippi, entrevistado por el Jackson Clarion Ledger.

(...) At age 63, Gov. Haley Barbour said deciding to run for president means resolving to "spend the rest of your productive life doing this." The decision won't come for months or without long talks with wife Marsha, the governor said.

"The idea that 'Boy, anybody would want to be president' is said by people who don't know much about being president," Barbour said. "It's a big, big decision. I'm not in any hurry to make the decision. I've got time. But I feel like I need to make a decision by this spring, and that's what I intend to do."

Barbour, during a visit with The Clarion-Ledger editorial board Wednesday, said if he does jump into the 2012 race, "it's going to be because I think I can do a better job of producing economic growth and job creation" than any other Republican candidate. The Democratic leadership in Washington has failed, he said.

"We're sitting here on what might as well still be a recession on Main Street Mississippi, and the biggest impediment to economic growth is the uncertainty created by our own government," Barbour said.

Barbour said he would not make a decision until after the upcoming legislative session, requiring his full attention.

"It's all consuming," he said. "If you don't have the fire in your belly and you're not willing to be totally focused on making this a success, you're not going to be successful."

Barbour's ability to stockpile cash heading into early primary states could place him in good standing in a crowded GOP primary, said Stephen Ansolabehere, a professor of government at Harvard University. Barbour is a fund-raising powerhouse from his time with the Republican National Committee in the 1990s and as head of the Republican Governors Association.

"What we will see on the Republican side is somebody emerge who is able to show they can get the organization up and running and raising money and my guess is that somebody like Haley Barbour or (Indiana Rep.) Mike Pence will surprise people in their ability to raise money," Ansolabehere said. (...)