GOP gubernatorial hopeful Pence to visit Greencastle

Newly announced Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence will visit Putnam County Saturday morning on one of the first stops on his 2012 Indiana campaign trail.

A lifelong Hoosier and Columbus native, the 52-year-old Pence is a sixth-term U.S. representative from the 6th District. He made his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor official just last week.

Pence will meet Putnam County Republicans and all other interested residents Saturday at the Putnam Inn in Greencastle. The event is set to begin at 11 a.m. in a private meeting room at the restaurant on North Jackson Street (U.S. 231).

Anyone who attends is responsible for his own breakfast order and payment.

Marsha S. Carrington, Putnam County coordinator for the Mike for Indiana campaign, is thrilled Pence is coming to Greencastle so early in his gubernatorial candidacy.

"It is an honor Mike has chosen Putnam County as one of his first visits after his official announcement for governor this past weekend," she said Wednesday in announcing the planned political stop. "I hope many residents will take advantage of Mike's visit by coming out to see him."

Pence is considered the GOP frontrunner to succeed Gov. Mitch Daniels. He describes himself as "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican -- in that order."

In giving up his seat in Congress to run for governor, Pence is expected to face Indiana businessman Jim Wallace in the Republican primary next May. The winner would then likely meet Democrat John Gregg, a former longtime state legislator, in the 2012 fall election.

Pence graduated from Hanover College in 1981, and earned his J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law in 1986.

Prior to being elected to Congress, Pence was president of the conservative Indiana Policy Review Foundation and the host of "The Mike Pence Show," a syndicated radio show that aired throughout Indiana.