Mitch Daniels 2016: 7 Highlights From Pre-Politics Life of Potential GOP Presidential Hopeful

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels dropped out of the 2012 presidential campaign early. Four years later, some GOP activists hope for a second chance with a Daniels 2016 campaign.

While Daniels didn't run for public office himself until his gubernatorial campaign in 2004, he got involved in politics as a staffer and campaign worker in his teens. Some highlights from the life and career of the presidential hopeful away from politics can provide insight into how a potential Daniels presidential run could play out.

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Vietnam Draft - Daniels received a student deferment while at Princeton during the Vietnam War. According to the Washington Post, once the deferment expired he received a high enough lottery number that he stayed out of the draft and the war.
Arrested for Marijuana Use - While an undergraduate student at Princeton, Daniels was indicted for marijuana use and “maintaining a common nuisance.” He and his roommates were caught with marijuana, LSD and other drug paraphernalia in their apartment. Daniels admits to marijuana use in college and says “justice was served,” according to Politico.
Wife Divorced Then Remarried Him - Mitch Daniels and his wife, Cheri, have an unusual marital history. Cheri Daniels rarely makes public appearances with Mitch, including during campaigns and official events as governor. Cheri Daniels divorced Mitch Daniels in 1993, after 15 years of marriage, to move to California with a doctor, according to the Indianapolis Star. She divorced the doctor and remarried Mitch Daniels in 1997.
Born in Pennsylvania, Lived in Georgia, but Moved to Indiana at Age 10 - While not born in Indiana, Daniels has lived there since age 10 and considers himself a full-blood “Hoosier.” Excluding his years working in Washington, D.C., he has only worked for Indiana-based companies and organizations.

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Attended Indiana Boys State - Daniels showed his aptitude for the behind-the-scenes campaign and staff work of politics early, according to his sister, Deborah Daniels, in an interview with NPR's Mara Liasson in 2011. Daniels developed a strategy for the boy he picked to be a candidate for governor of the mock political event.
Saved Prozac From a Negative PR Campaign - While away from politics for a while, Daniels worked at the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. Daniels orchestrated an aggressive PR strategy against a campaign by the Church of Scientology to discredit the company's Prozac drug. The campaign was so successful yet direct that the company promoted him to run the entire North American division and the church sued him for libel, according to The Weekly Standard.
Co-Chair of National Research Council Committee on Manned Space Flight - While president of Purdue University, Daniels also served as co-chair of an NRC committee tasked by NASA to make recommendations on the future of human spaceflight for the country. Daniels testified to Congress on behalf of the committee that the panel recommended planning for an eventual Mars landing, according to Indiana Public Media.