When Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels took the podium at the conservative American Enterprise Institute today, he joked that his audience had been misled into believing he was going to give a major policy address. And sure enough, what he offered was a slide show spotlighting the education reforms he shepherded through his state's legislature last week.

He eschewed prepared remarks and soaring rhetoric and instead laid out each of the policy changes he ushered in, step by step. Among them were an enormous expansion of the charter school system, the largest voucher program in the country, the end of collective bargaining for teachers (save for salaries and wage-related benefits) and teacher assessments. A bit dry? Sure. But Daniels played directly to a crowd comprised mostly of right-leaning wonks looking for details -- not red meat.

What he hoped to show was competence and results, a hallmark of his 2008 re-election message, which propelled him to a second term as governor of the Hoosier State. It wasn't really a plan for the country, but then, Daniels has not committed to being a GOP candidate for president in 2012. He did, however, give a preview of his rhetorical approach to education.

"Semantically, I think it's important to talk about school improvement," he said. "I think reform means different things to different people."

And he emphasized a commitment to public schools throughout his comments, predicting that just a small percentage of Indiana families would take advantage of the voucher system, because the teacher quality provisions would improve public schools across the board.

"And it is certainly from a social justice standpoint the right thing to do -- to give the same range of possibilities to every family, regardless of means." But, he said later, "if the public school delivers and succeeds, no one will seek to exercise this choice." He added, "This package of four bills we see as a mutually reinforcing."

He also mentioned two reforms written into the budget -- all-day kindergarten and the option students now have to accelerate their secondary education and graduate in three years.

Not shying away from the point, he joked, "We will give them the money that we were going to spend on an otherwise fun-filled cruise through senior year." If, of course, they apply that money to a post-secondary education.

He also used the occasion to boast: "I need to tell you that Indiana is a state that's in the black." He brought the point back to education, however, noting that: "In the context of that, we added spending to K-12 education. . . . We believe in investments in education."