I've disagreed on occasion with Gov. Mitch Daniels, but I have always felt that what he was doing was, in his mind, the best thing for Indiana.

I wasn't crazy about leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium, for example, but I didn't think that Daniels came up with the idea in a dream after overdoing it on "Make Your Own Burrito Night."

Now, with his decision to pull the plug on two important road projects, I not only find myself disagreeing with Our Man Mitch but not even being able to respect him for having the courage of his convictions.

Daniels has now decided it would be best not to extend the proposed Illiana Expressway east of Interstate 65, when the original idea was to connect I-57 in Will County in a sweeping curve up to I-94 south of Michigan City.

A bunch of Porter County folks turned out and said in essence, NIMLF, which is an acronym that means "Not In My Lower Forty."

They were right, sort of, although I drive I-65 between Crown Point and Lafayette and I can't see that much of the rural peace has been shattered.

Daniels has also decided to tread rearward on his concept for an Indiana Commerce Connector, a 75-mile road that would have circled a portion of Indianapolis and was opposed by those with the same NIMLF mindset.

The official explanation, offered by the gov this past weekend, was that "the people of the affected areas have spoken clearly enough to persuade me that these ideas are at best premature."

State Democrats hailed the decision by the Republican governor, with state party chairman Dan Parker saying Daniels "had no choice but to take his unpopular proposals off the table."

Sure he did. Because an idea is unpopular does not make it bad, except in this era when politicians make policy decisions based on opinion polls.

Would that have cost him the 2008 election? The Illiana would likely not. He doesn't pull huge votes out of Northwest Indiana anyway.

The Connector would be a different story. The Indy collar counties are all solid Republican, and Daniels obviously felt the need to pander to a constituency he will definitely need to pull off a re-election.

But in what could shape up to be a close race, by killing the eastern portion of the Illiana Daniels has made a couple thousand happy folks who will remember him as the guy who stood up for the little man.

"This is a great day for democracy," said Dave Ahlberg, head of Citizens Against the Privatized Illiana Toll Road.

Daniels has won hearts and minds in the short run.

And that's all that counts when re-election is your Major Move.

The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.