Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has been quite the republican media darling here lately, and also hailed as the “future of the Republican Party”. He has made numerous appearances on national news programs, has been mentioned in print nation wide, and also was invited to a private Memorial Day barbeque at Sen. John McCain’s ranch in Arizona. He was also said to be on Sen. McCain’s short list for vice president, before he removed himself from consideration. He ran his campaign for governor on the usual republican mantra of “less taxes, less government”, “ethics reform”, “putting a stop to wasteful spending”, “slashing the state budget” and “enacting a hiring freeze on state government”. He won the election by a comfortable margin, but it was by no means a mandate. His only serious competition, Democrat Walter Boasso, was a real piece of work. Fairly typical of what most people imagine a Louisiana politician to be. He appeared in all of his campaign ads with a life sized cardboard cut out of Gov. Jindal, and his main theme seemed to be harping on Gov. Jindal (He was secretary of Health & Hospitals at the time.) being so terrible for turning down someone for state medical aid because they didn’t qualify. Mr. Boasso even resurrected the long ago laid to rest tactic of claiming that Gov. Jindal would be so mean and cruel as to “kick all of the widows, orphans and old folks out in the street.”

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