Another article on "our Bobby." I am starting to feel like he is part of our family! Another example that Ethnic candidates, in mixed areas, will do better as conservatives. "Money Quote" - "If he were a left-wing candidate who was dark-skinned he wouldn't have a prayer.
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JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL WSJ.com
Bobby Jindal's Rise
Louisiana's next governor may be an Indian-American Republican.
Thursday, October 9, 2003 12:01 a.m.
California isn't the only state with an interesting governor's race this year. Republican Bobby Jindal, the son of immigrants from India who placed first in Louisiana's all-party primary for governor Saturday, was so unknown in the state that he wasn't even included in the first statewide poll on the race last January. But the former Rhodes Scholar will now face a runoff on Nov. 15 against Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat. If he wins, Republicans will have not only a bright new star on the national stage but a powerful symbol of their efforts at ethnic outreach.
The 32-year-old Mr. Jindal he had already impressed many in the state's elites with his intelligence and administrative ability. He became the head of the state's health-care system at age 24, director of the Breaux-Thomas national commission on Medicare at 26, president of the University of Louisiana system at 27, and a top adviser on health policy to President Bush at 29.
Former congressman Bob Livingston calls Mr. Jindal "an amazing young man." He is the rare policy wonk who can easily make the transition into politics. In his first month after he announced, he raised $538,000, he appeared constantly on talk radio shows touting his conservative agenda, and he steadily rose in the polls to eclipse all other Republicans. He won 33% in Saturday's primary, with Ms. Blanco finishing second with 18%.
The young Mr. Jindal faced enormous skepticism that a person with dark skin could succeed in Louisiana, a state in which David Duke was the runner-up for governor just a dozen years ago. Indeed, when state Rep. Jay Blossman dropped out of the race last month, he endorsed another Republican with a reference to Mr. Jindal's ethnic background: "It's unfortunate, but it is a fact, that Jindal has no chance of winning a runoff."
But the candidate has already confounded experts who predicted he would never make it past the primary. "What he's done so far has been amazing," says Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. Mr. Jindal scored points by touting his political inexperience: "I'm not a politician, I'm a problem solver." His impressive machine-gun like recitations of how he would shake up state government and attract industry became the highlight of candidate debates.
He treats his Indian background as an overall plus but won't trade on it. He left the space for "race" on his qualifying papers blank and attacks the division of people along racial lines. "I'm against all quotas, all set-asides," he says. "America is the greatest. We got ahead by hard work. We shouldn't respond to every problem with a government program. Here, anyone can succeed."
Mr. Jindal certainly has. He was born in Baton Rouge in 1971, shortly after his parents moved to the U.S. His father took a job as an engineer at Exxon so that Bobby's mother could earn a degree in nuclear physics at Louisiana State University. At the age of four he dropped "Piyush" as his first name in favor or "Bobby" after a character on "The Brady Bunch." He was raised a Hindu but converted to Catholicism at Brown University. He was admitted to medical school but dropped plans to be a doctor after winning a Rhodes Scholarship. His academic background in health-care administration impressed Gov. Mike Foster, who named him to head the state's $4 billion Department of Health and Hospitals. Mr. Jindal imposed budget discipline and rooted out so much fraud that he was able to turn the state's $400 million Medicaid deficit into a surplus.
Now that he is a candidate for governor, Mr. Jindal is using his health-care expertise to tout ways to help the uninsured obtain health insurance. The way to do that, he says, is to work with the three-fourths of the uninsured who already have jobs. He proposes insurance pools in which small businesses can join together to get lower-cost premiums.
But the major issue in the governor's race is how to prevent the state from falling further behind its neighbors in economic growth. Louisiana is the only Southern state where more people are leaving than moving in.
The "bright flight" of the state's most promising young people has become the most important symbolic issue of the race. Ms. Blanco says wants to be "the governor who brought our kids back home." But she offers only vague hints on how she'd do this, if elected, other than to call for a summit of experts to examine the state's government.
For his part, Mr. Jindal rejects nostrums like tax increases on oil companies or a higher minimum wage: "The only businesses left would be the U-Haul business for people to continue to leave our state." Instead, he would eliminate business taxes on debt and manufacturing equipment and carve out a greater role for the private sector in road building and the provision of health care for the poor. He would expand school choice and allow home schooled children to participate in extracurricular activities at their local public school.
Part of his philosophy is a belief that the federal government can't be Louisiana's salvation. He told National Review that the federal government's $20 billion bailout of the states was flawed because "it required no efficiencies from the states." Bailouts mean that "states expand Medicaid in good times and go to the federal government in bad times," he concluded.
Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, told me that with his impressive résumé and brilliant primary campaign, Mr. Jindal may be a slight favorite to win the runoff against the grandmotherly Ms. Blanco, who has six children. Ms. Blanco can count on the support of many Cajuns (she comes from a family of French ancestry) and most of the state's black voters, who make up 30% of the electorate.
But Louisiana may not vote this year along traditional lines. The state seems to have gotten over its weakness for populist politicians and has shown a willingness to vote for Republicans. Although Bill Clinton won Louisiana twice and the state hasn't had a Republican U.S. senator since 1883, Gov. Foster won two terms and President Bush defeated Al Gore by 8% in 2000. "I think Jindal has a real chance because he is running against type," says Michael Barone, author of the Almanac of American Politics. "If he were a left-wing candidate who was dark-skinned he wouldn't have a prayer. As a smart conservative with an unusual background he has an exotic quality that appeals to people."
He certainly has an appeal to the state's business community, which has showered him with contributions. He has also attracted significant media support. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, the state's leading newspaper, endorsed him by saying "Mr. Jindal possesses keen intelligence, boundless energy, a knack for winning people over and getting things done. To meet him is to be impressed." Now the challenge for Mr. Jindal is how many people he can contact and impress before the Nov. 15 runoff.
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