Gov. Bill Haslam wasn't about to go out on a limb.
You could almost hear comedian Dana Carvey imitating President George H.W. Bush on "Saturday Night Live": "Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent."
Haslam wouldn't make an endorsement in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, and he told Times Free Press reporters and editors this week he wasn't sure he was going to. Indeed, he wouldn't commit to endorsing the Republican primary winner.
"I think so," he said of the possibility of endorsing the eventual nominee.
Asked about the state of his party's wild presidential politics, the Tennessee governor said his Republican Party is in no bigger a dither about its candidate than the Democratic Party.
"It's the same for both parties," Haslam said. "There's obviously a lot of frustration."
But, for Republicans, solutions to the Islamic State in Syria and Iran can't just involve bombing until the "sand [glows] in the dark," as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suggested, he said.
And the irrational spending plans suggested by Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders are no better, Haslam said.
"The math doesn't work on that," he said.
Haslam said he was surprised his fellow governors or former fellow governors haven't elicited - or didn't - more interest. Even former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who dropped out of the Democratic race this week, was "not a joke candidate," even if their politics wouldn't agree much, he said.
Unfortunately, resumes aren't nearly as beneficial in today's hyperpartisan campaign climate, he said. The latest reaction to a specific issue - the more incendiary the better - is apt to be much more important, he said.
"Well said is better than well done," Haslam said.
"The days of Howard Baker (the collegial former U.S. senator from Tennessee) are totally gone," said Haslam, who spent his summers in college volunteering for the late senator's campaigns. "He always said, 'The other fellow might be right.'"
With the polarization of both parties, it's hard to see much of the senator's type of collegiality returning any time soon. But it's a necessary ingredient if the country is to have a sound future.