Mitch Daniels in 2012 Governor's State of the State speeches

On Crime: Strengthen laws against horrid practice of human trafficking

On Education: End cruel, defeatist practice of passing kids who can't read

But that's not why others are following Indiana. It's our new commitment to rewarding the best teachers, liberating principals and superintendents, and providing low- and middle-income parents the same choices as their wealthier neighbors; that's what has caught the world's attention. And this year, when we end the cruel, defeatist practice of passing children who cannot read into fourth grade, and when our most diligent students begin to graduate from high school in 11 years, and get a head start on college costs with the dollars they earned through their hard work, others will take notice of Indiana yet again.

On Environment: First state to phase in new environmental Clean Air permits

Last year, we wiped out the last of a 550-case backlog of old, and therefore less strict, environmental permits, and are now the only state completely current. Our goal for 2012 is to maintain this status and, if national limits are lowered yet again, to find a way to meet those standards, too.

On Jobs: Support Right to Work and Indiana will add jobs faster

The idea, that no worker should be forced to pay union dues as a condition of keeping a job, is simple, and just. But the benefits in new jobs would be large: a third or more of growing or relocating businesses will not consider a state that does not provide workers this protection. Almost half our fellow states have right to work laws. As a group, they are adding jobs faster, growing worker income faster, and enjoying lower unemployment rates than those of us without a law.

Among the minority favoring the status quo, passion on this issue is strong, and I respect that. I did not come lightly, or quickly, to the stance I take now. If this proposal limited in any way the right to organize, I would not support it. But we just cannot go on missing out on the middle class jobs our state needs, just because of this one issue.

On Principles & Values: You might dislike my decisions, but things ARE different

I'm pretty sure that good man would agree tonight that things are very different in Indiana now. Then, we were broke and other states were flush. Tonight, while states elsewhere twist in financial agony, Indiana has an honestly balanced budget, a strong, protective reserve in our state savings account, and the first AAA credit rating in state history, one of just a handful left in America. Our credit is better--imagine this--than that of the federal government.

We are not where we want to be, nowhere close. But we are poised for more progress, and better days.

On Technology: Invest $1.2 billion in Hoosier Heartland Corridor and US31

The last contract on the Hoosier Heartland Corridor will be let next summer and the entire project finished by 2013. The last contracts on U.S. 31 from South Bend through Kokomo will be let this year, and we have accelerated completion of the entire corridor into 2015. I-69 will be open for traffic from Evansville to Crane, as will the entire Fort to Port highway in Northeast Indiana. The Sherman-Minton Bridge will be rebuilt and reopened by March and, upriver, an agreement on a new bridge from Utica to Louisville will be in place, cementing Indiana's place at the forefront of the public-private partnership movement.

We will build the state's 3,000th mile of bike and hiking trails, and reach our goal of a trail within 15 minutes of every Hoosier.