• Office Sought: Governor of Indiana
• Birth Date: April 7, 1949
• Occupation: Governor
• Religion: Presbyterian
• Web site: http://www.in.gov/gov

Education

• Georgetown University, JD
• Princeton University, BA

Mitchell "Mitch" Daniels was born in Pennsylvania, lived in Georgia and Tennessee and moved with his family to Indiana while he was still in grade school.

He graduated from high school in Indianapolis in 1967 and earned a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1971. He received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1979. At Princeton, he was once arrested and fined $350 for using marijuana.

Daniels began his political career working in various capacities for Dick Lugar while the future U.S. senator was mayor of Indianapolis in the early to mid-1970s. He followed Lugar to the U.S. Senate, serving as his chief of staff during his first eight years.

In the mid-1980s, Daniels served as an adviser to President Reagan and was the administration's liaison to state and local offices. Reagan appointed him to the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and later as director of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Daniels returned to Indiana in 1987 as chief executive of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank that had moved to Indianapolis a few years earlier. In 1990 he joined senior management at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., and later became its president of North American operations.

Daniels acquired much of his personal wealth while at Lilly.

During his 2001 confirmation to become White House budget director, he listed his net worth at $15.7 million. Of the total, $8.8 million was in stocks, almost $5.4 million was in retirement plans and the rest was from real estate and other assets.

During his more than two years as White House budget director, Daniels oversaw the nation's $2.1 trillion budget and clashed frequently with Congress over spending. Bush nicknamed him "The Blade" for trying to protect taxpayers from excessive spending.

During his tenure, annual federal surpluses reverted to huge deficits, something he and other administration officials largely blamed on a weak economy and the costs of the war and fighting terrorism. Democrats said the Bush tax cuts also were to blame.

Daniels was elected governor in 2004.

He and his wife, Cheri, have four daughters.