Today Bobby Jindal-R(LA-01) announced that he is going to run again for Governor of Louisiana in 2007. Jindal, who won by 88% in his race to retain his seat in the U.S. house, will either have a dogfight or cruise to an easy victory depending on which Democrat runs against him.
Jindal had previously run against Blanco in 2003 and narrowly lost to her (52-48%).
Check it Out..
You might be asking yourself why I am profiling a Republican on DailyKos. The reason is because Jindal has the potential to become one of the fresh new faces of the GOP that Dems will have to contend with in the coming years. This is for you, so we can see what we are up against.
First a little
bio on Rep. Jindal
Jindal, whose parents came to the United States from India, finished first in the 2003 open primary for governor and was widely viewed as the frontrunner for the runoff. But in the campaign's final days, Blanco, a two-term lieutenant governor with conservative views on abortion and gun control, overtook him, winning by 4 points, 52 percent to 48 percent.
Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar with degrees from Brown University and Oxford University, previously served as secretary of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals, executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, president of the University of Louisiana System and assistant secretary for planning and evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In person, Jindal is as impressive as his résumé. In more than a dozen years interviewing candidates for Congress, he ranks with a handful of the most impressive challengers and open-seat candidates whom I have interviewed. That list also includes now-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and unsuccessful Senate hopeful Jack Ryan (R-Ill.).
In a previous reply I had
said,
One of the GOP's biggest rising stars is US Rep. Bobby Jindal... He barely lost to Blanco in the Governor race in 2004. Conventional Wisdom says he will run again for Governor (and win) but if he runs for Senate, this is likely a GOP pickup...
I think he would run for Governor to propel himself in 2012 for Prez or more likely 2016 but I am not sure of his ultimate political aspirations....
Now in the quote above I said Jindal would probably win the Governorship if he ran. However that is dependent on one thing. If Gov. Blanco runs for Governor again, than yes, Jindal will easily cruise to victory.
However from a Washington Post
article,
Blanco did report $2.4 million in her campaign account at the end of 2005 and has pledged to seek re-election in 2007. Some Democrats, wary of Blanco's political liabilities, are attempting to recruit former Louisiana Sen. John Breaux into the contest. Should Breaux decide to run, he would likely enter a primary against Blanco as the favorite.
Breaux and current Lt. Gov. Mitch Landreiu both would be strong candidates to run against Jindal. What the Louisiana Democratic party needs to do is convince Breaux to run. Blanco is a politically sinking ship and it is time for the LA Dems to abandon ship completely and gear up for the 2007 Governor race.
For the Dems, I believe it is extremely important for them to ensure that Jindal does not win the Governorship. He could be an extremely popular Governor and will fly up the ranks of the GOP, perhaps he might even consider running for President in 2012/2016.