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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (20019)	12/15/2003 2:20:52 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 793677

check out this "hero": Message 19544752

To: carranza2 who wrote (20019)	12/15/2003 2:51:36 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793677

Jindal might go for Breux's seat I hope he does. But the racist reaction the last time makes it a tougher race.

To: carranza2 who wrote (20019)	4/20/2004 8:32:42 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793677

Bobby Jindal revisited; running for Congress story.news.yahoo.com Jindal says Indian heritage did not cost him Louisiana governor's post Tue Apr 20, 3:06 AM ET NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Looking back on his unsuccessful campaign for governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal says that his Indian heritage had nothing to do with his defeat. AFP/Getty Images/File Photo "We got incredible support from every corner of the state," Jindal told AFP. "I don't believe the people of Louisiana made their decision based on the color of skin." Many Louisianians hailed the 2003 contest, which pitted the 32 year-old son of Punjabi immigrants against then-Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco, as evidence that the southern state had outgrown its history of prejudice. A Republican, Jindal gained the support of right-wing white voters by emphasizing his Roman Catholic faith and socially conservative agenda while downplaying his ethnic heritage. But a recent study by political scientists Richard Skinner and Philip Klinkner of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York argues that ethnic bias played a role in Jindal's defeat. The paper, "Black, White, Brown, and Cajun: The Racial Dynamics of the 2003 Louisiana Gubernatorial Election," published by the Berkeley Electronic Press, says that Democrat Blanco "may have benefited from white voters' discomfort with supporting a brown-skinned Indian-American." Skinner and Klinkner attribute Blanco's margin of victory to votes she received from rural white conservatives, who would normally flock to a Republican candidate with Jindal's conservative platform. Louisiana political writer John Maginnis agrees that ethnicity was probably a factor in the contest. However, Maginnis points out that Jindal still received most of the white vote. "I don't disagree that there was ... prejudice against Jindal, but it was not massive -- it was marginal," he said. "Rural voters may have objected more to his youth." To run for governor, Jindal left a post in the Bush Administration's Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites), where as an assistant secretary he was the highest-ranking Indian-American in the US government. Jindal's campaign sparked controversy among South Asians living in the United States. After an initial rush of enthusiasm -- and cash -- for his campaign, many Indian and Pakistani-Americans grew disturbed by his unrelenting emphasis on his Christian faith, which they viewed as a rejection of his Indian identity. Jindal is now running for the US House of Representatives in suburban New Orleans, which will be a far less arduous contest, according to Maginnis. "I think he's going to win," he said. "That was the area of the state where he ran the strongest, and the competition is not as strong. They really liked him there, and really want to have a place for him in government. It's the consolation prize." A recent poll by Southern Media and Opinion Research places Jindal, with 65 percent support, comfortably ahead of his nearest rival, State Representative Steve Scalise, who has 6.2 percent. A large majority of the voters polled were white. Indian-Americans both in Louisiana and nationwide continue to contribute money to Jindal's campaign coffers. "We were very honored to get that support in the governor's race. It was edifying. There are certainly individuals that continue to be supportive," he said. Jindal declared the threat of terrorism the most important issue he would confront as a congressman. "Our country is under attack. There's a group of people out there who hate our freedoms, our rights," he said. He spoke approvingly of George W. Bush's leadership, but said that more should be done to promote a positive image of the US worldwide. "We may be winning the military war -- and we are -- but at the same time we have to win over hearts and minds across the world," he said. "For too long we ignored some of what is being taught in radical schools in other countries. We are now seeing the consequences of that." Jindal cited tensions between India and Pakistan as one area in which the US should have taken a more aggressive role in international affairs before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Jindal was born and raised in the Louisiana capital, Baton Rouge. His parents came to the US so that his mother, pregnant with him at the time, could continue her graduate work in nuclear physics. His father, an engineer, was one of nine children in a poor rural family in Punjab. Jindal graduated from Brown University and spent a year as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. If Jindal is elected this November, he will be the second Indian-American to serve in the US Congress. The first, Dalip Singh Saund, was a California Congressman from 1957 to 1963.