Dana Perino: Auto dealers should run for office

Fox News personality Dana Perino described franchised dealers as the "most natural politicians" she knows.

"And that is not meant to be an insult," Perino, who was White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration, said Friday during an NADA keynote address. "You do it well, and your leadership is needed more than ever."

Perino, who co-anchors "America's Newsroom" and co-hosts weekday opinion talk show "The Five" on Fox News, even suggested dealers should consider running for president.

"We don't need all the senators. They say that every senator that looks in the mirror sees a president staring back," she said. "You know people. You know what they need. You know what their anxieties are, and you're problem solvers."

Perino also pointed to dealers' penchant for community involvement.

"The way that this is a family and a community business, the way that you create the jobs that are really the power engines of these economies … and how much you give back," she said.

"I know that there's no Little League or marching band or charity walk that doesn't come through your doors and ask for help, and you so willingly give it."