Bobby Jindal easily wins Louisiana governorship

“Louisiana voters chose Bobby Jindal to be their next governor Saturday, handing the 36-year-old Republican wunderkind an electoral prize that eluded him four years ago after a low-key race yielded a historic victory,” according to the Times-Picayune.

“By winning more than 50 percent of the primary vote against a field of 12 candidates, Jindal became the first candidate to win an open gubernatorial seat since Louisiana adopted its all-party “jungle” non-partisan primary system in 1975 and the first member of a racial minority to become the state’s chief executive since Reconstruction.”

I realize this news item has nothing to do with Orange County, but it is interesting to see an outright minority Republican win a governorship in a blue state. This might also serve as an inspiration to Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu, who is running for the 33rd State Senate District against Assemblywoman Mimi Walters.

Both Sidhu and Jindal are conservatives. Jindal even converted to Christianity and he appears to be aligned with the religious right.

According to his website, Bobby was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on June 10, 1971. He graduated from Baton Rouge High School at the age of 16. He later attended Brown University where he graduated with honors in both biology and public policy. He then attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and received his graduate degree in 1994.

Bobby entered public service in 1996 when he was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), relinquishing admissions to Harvard and Yale University medical and law schools.

Bobby returned to Louisiana state government in 1999, when he became president of the University of Louisiana System – the 16th largest higher education system in the country which oversees the education of around 80,000 students a year.

In March 2001, Bobby was nominated by President George W. Bush, and later unanimously confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the U.S. Senate, as the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In that position, he served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Jindal defeated a former Republican State Senator, Walter Boasso, who quit the GOP this year and became a Democrat. Isn’t that the guy Bryan Lanza was working for before State Senator Abel Maldonado hired him? I’m not sure, but I think that was the case.

At any rate, Jindal becomes an instant national star for the fading Republicans. Indian-Americans tend to swing left, so I will be watching to see if Jindal is able to bring some of them back to the GOP. Orange County has a very large Indian-American population. I wonder if OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh will try to bring Governor Jindal out here next year for one of the OC GOP events?