“I had an uncertain mooring back then. I don’t think that is all that unusual at a time like that,” he said. “Eventually I came to whatever is a principled and consistent view of the world. … Of course, college is supposed to force you to have to look at different views.”

Daniels said his political views were shaped by the two summers he spent interning with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ill.), who was at the time the mayor of Indianapolis. He also spent a semester working on the Senate campaign of William Ruckelshaus.