Bobby Jindal

Jindal: Bayou Wunkerkid

Jindal: Bayou Wunkerkid
The Hill, By Walter Alarkson
June 10, 2008

...Jindal raised his profile as a fresh face with a clean past. He went on to win a House seat in 2004 and then, after Blancos response to Hurricane Katrina was criticized, the governors mansion last year.

Jindals backers for the No. 2 slot, a group that includes Rush Limbaugh and Grover Norquist, say that despite his age, Jindal has more experience than Obama.

Jindal already had a reputation as a conservative reformer and a healthcare expert when he first ran for statewide office. In 1996, he had served as the states health director, where he championed cuts in Louisianas largest state government department. In 1998, he was appointed executive director of a federal healthcare bipartisan commission, headed by then-Sen. John Breaux (D-La.). (Breaux and most of the commission advocated for a premium support, market-based approach similar to the one Jindal espoused as an intern, McCrery said.) Jindal went on to become president of Louisianas public university system and, in 2001, an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), serving as chief policy adviser to then-Secretary Tommy Thompson.

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