Jim DeMint: Mitch Daniels Is The 'Only One' Who Could Emerge As GOP Nominee From Convention

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that a brokered convention wasn't very likely, but the one person who could emerge from it would be Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R).

According to the Augusta Chronicle, DeMint was asked by an audience member at the Aiken Republican Club what he thought of Daniels as a potential Republican presidential nominee during the convention.

"He’s the only one who could make it happen," he said. "But I don’t think his wife will let it happen."

DeMint has said that he will not endorse a candidate in the 2012 GOP presidential primary, focusing his efforts on the U.S. Senate. "I have the ability to raise $10 (million) or $15 million to elect some senators and that's how I think I can help the next president. So that's what I want to do," he told the AP in January. "As soon as I get involved with one (presidential) candidate, I've got 80 percent of my supporters mad at me."

Daniels has been the target of a great deal of presidential speculation, even though he said he wouldn't run for president in May 2011 for family reasons. Bill Kristol and his magazine, The Weekly Standard, have continued to tout Daniels as a candidate. A recent blog post by Kristol said that Daniels won a presidential debate that he wasn't in.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have all been mentioned as possible last-minute candidates, despite the fact that all of them have said that they aren't running.