McCain's Surprise: Could GOP's Bayou Gov. Get Veepstakes Slot?

March 28, 2008 — -- Being called the next Ronald Reagan and the future of the Republican Party complete with murmurs of placement on G.O.P.'s vice presidential short list isn't bad conservative buzz to have if you're first-term Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

For Jindal, gubernatorial assension into the national spotlight came in October following a 53 percent victory in the Louisiana governor's race making the 36-year-old former two-term congressman the nation's first Indian-American governor.

Jindal has marked his first months in office fighting corruption and pushing ethics reform in his home state. Combined with his youth, diversity and conservative cred, ABC News consultant Matthew Dowd, said Jindal would bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the presidential bid of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Unlike other Republican names in the vice presidential pool, as an ethnic minority, Jindal provides a diversity that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford do not.

Dowd said Jindal could counter the historic elements on the Democratic side of the first African-American or first female presidential candidate to make the Republican ticket "more of what America looks like or more of what the diversity of America is."

"Conservatives really, really like him, which would give McCain a touchback to that base," said Dowd, a former strategist for the Bush White House. "He's the governor, he's young, he's the next generation of leader."

Republican strategist Scott Reed agreed, calling visions of Jindal in the No. 2 spot "an idea that should be dismissed on first blush."

"The beauty is," Reed explained, "is he's not just a good, strong conservative, but he's also incredibly competent and with a history in some domestic issues, like health care, which are going to be front and center next fall."

Jindal's leadership in a post-Katrina Louisiana also earned him high marks by Dowd. Jindal "comes in and is trying to clean up corruption, trying to fix one of those messes that has hit the history of this country," he said.