I can tell you this, when he ran for his first term he laid out exactly what he was going to do. And by God, he did it. And he pissed a whole bunch of folks off, including Mayors, county commissioners and school boards, both Dems AND Repubs, when he pushed for a cap on property taxes.
Without the TOTUS the Obozo will get his ass kicked by Daniels in a debate.
I think a lot of this comes from the fact that he was an executive at Eli Lilly for years before he was a politician. He develops a strategic plan reflecting what the thinks is critical, he focuses on it and makes it happen. In his first term, he succeeded with a split legislative branch. Daniels is a marked contrast to most politicians. He won't say just anything to make whomever he is speaking to happy. If it's not on his critical list, he treats it as a distraction, much like he did the right to work legislation in the recently concluded session. It was off the table in the past session, but Daniels does support right to work and I'd be surprised if it is not on the agenda next session.