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Last updated on Tuesday, March 22, 2011
(UNDATED) - Former House Speaker John Gregg is testing the waters for a run for Governor next year.
The Sandborn Democrat has been making the rounds of county parties' Jefferson-Jackson day dinners, and plans to meet over the next couple of weeks with party leaders in some of the state's biggest counties: Marion, Lake, Saint Joseph and Allen.
He'll also travel to Washington, D.C., to get the Democratic Governors Association's Assessment of the race.
Gregg says he has no timetable for a final decision, but says he's getting more enthusiastic every day about seeking the nomination.
He says he'd focus his campaign on jobs, vowing to build on what he calls Republican Governor Mitch Daniels' "tireless" efforts to market the state.
Gregg says the state needs to do more to encourage the growth of small businesses.
And Gregg argues he can run as a centrist, pointing to his leadership of an evenly divided house for two of his six years as speaker.
He suggests what he calls "overreach" by Congressional Democrats after President Obama's landslide win in 2008 and by legislative Republicans after their big backlash victory last year has built public appetite for someone to work across party lines to pass legislation.
Gregg's been out of office for nine years, but says there'd be plenty of time to reintroduce himself to voters.
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