To hear the average wise-guy political strategist in Washington tell it, Indiana first lady Cheri Daniels ultimately may be what stands between Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and a 2012 presidential bid.

Even Gov. Daniels' close friend, former New Hampshire Republican Gov. John Sununu, said in a recent interview with RealClearPolitics, "The decision is in the hands of his wife." He added, "I know for sure she has the final say on this campaign." Sununu figured that Daniels would not run.

Story after story about Daniels' national plans reads that an impediment to the Hoosier State governor's success in a GOP presidential primary is that he sports a 5'7" frame, a receding hairline, and a spouse with no stomach for a national campaign. The first two observations are undeniable, albeit of dubious relevance. And the third may prove to be a myth, one that overlooks a steady rise in Mrs. Daniels' profile over the past year - and evidence that she appears to be steeling herself for the rigors and scrutiny of a presidential campaign.

A closer look suggests that Mrs. Daniels has been preparing for months, a change in the winds noticed so far mainly by observant Republican operatives in Indiana.

Veteran Hoosier Republican strategist Kevin Kellems, a former spokesman to Vice President Cheney, noted, "If the country has the chance to get to know Cheri Daniels, she'll be hugely popular."

Mrs. Daniels granted a personal and warm video interview to the Indianapolis Star last summer in which she said that as first lady, she's focused her attention on not one - but four - areas, including heart health, literacy, fitness and the state fair.

Perched on a stool and wearing a bright purple dress and an ankle bracelet, Mrs. Daniels posed for photos while answering questions about how she first met her husband and how she has approached her job as first lady. Also included were photos of the couple when they married and some with their daughters.

When asked to tell viewers one thing about the governor that they do not know, she answered, chuckling: "He never closes a drawer; he never closes a cabinet door."

As it happens, Michelle Obama offered similar sentiments in interviews about her own husband when he was running for president several years ago.

There's another similarity between the nation's first lady and Indiana's: As the then-Illinois senator was considering a presidential bid, Mrs. Obama was also said to be cool to the idea. The Chicago Tribune later reported that a major hurdle was removed to an Obama bid when he finally received her blessing. And when Mrs. Daniels offered the slightest bit of interest last year - reluctant though she may have been initially - there was reportedly quite a bit of high-fiving going on among the Daniels staff at the Indiana Statehouse.

In time, Mrs. Daniels seems to have embraced the idea.

Her Twitter feed, @INFirstLady, has picked up in recent months, and her comments include details from all of her public appearances. Her office sends out her public schedule regularly, and she is bouncing around the state for events like a recent one in Elkhart on heart health for women.

She also joins a radio show on the Indianapolis country station, 97.1 Hank FM, on the first Friday morning of each month and takes listeners' questions. Callers present her with suggestions for an activity to do some time in the coming week through a program she calls "Cheri's Chores."

Among her chores: milking a cow, going to a yoga class, learning how to play a guitar and firefighting.

Gov. Daniels also has intimated that his four daughters - all of whose first names begin with the letter, "M," like his - are generally opposed to a campaign. But Daniels supporters take heart in knowing that the couple's youngest daughter, Maggie, who is 24, has shown in the past that she enjoys campaigning and spent a chunk of time campaigning with her father on his 2008 gubernatorial re-election campaign.

A 2004 profile of Maggie in the Indiana Daily Student reads, "She supports her father on [Indiana University's] campus by wearing shirts bearing his campaign slogan, participates in rallies, and even rode in the back of a red 1967 Mustang with a banner saying ‘Vote for my dad Mitch' in the IU Homecoming parade Friday."

None of this is to say Mrs. Daniels or her youngest daughter actually is urging the Indiana governor to file presidential exploratory committee paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. Indeed, Mrs. Daniels told the Elkhart Truth at an event last month, "I think we're all sort of undecided about it. It's very flattering, of course, to be talked about for that position. But there are many, many things to consider, and it affects our entire family. It affects us for not just what might be four years or eight years but for the remainder of our lives, as well."

And through a spokeswoman, she passed on an interview for this story. That will be the big hurdle: sitting down with national political reporters - because there is a reason for Cheri Daniels's hesitation that goes beyond the normal spousal concerns about a lack of privacy.

Some of the same Beltway-based strategists who question Daniels's likelihood to run and his chances in the nomination fight point to the couple's 1994 divorce and 1997 remarriage as an obstacle in the race and something they will have to address publicly if he runs.

The second nuptials came seven years before Daniels first ran for governor, and the Weekly Standard noted in a profile of him over the summer that Mrs. Daniels has never spoken about it publicly. But in a 2004 interview with the Indianapolis Star, her husband said, "If you like happy endings, you'll love our story."