Bobby Jindal: 9 Things You Didn't Know About the Potential VP Pick

July 23, 2012 -- Political observers are on high alert as speculation mounts that Romney could announce his vice presidential pick as early as this week, before he leaves for London to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games.

ABC News has ranked the contenders, and in the top tier are Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, followed by Senators Kelly Ayotte and Marco Rubio, Congressman Paul Ryan, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in the second tier.

Last week we brought you sets of interesting facts about top tier contenders Portman and Pawlenty, as well as Florida's freshmen senator, Marco Rubio. Today, we take a look at Louisiana's Jindal.

1.) His birth name was Piyush, but he changed it to Bobby, after Bobby Brady.

2.) He was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals at age 24- the youngest secretary of that department ever.

3.) He was the first Indian-American governor in the nation, and the first non-white governor in Louisiana since Reconstruction.

4.) Raised in the Hindu faith but converted to Catholicism.

5.) In 1994 he penned an article for the New Oxford Review- in which he talks about an experience in grad school where he watched an exorcism performed on a friend who had become possessed.

6.) Served as president of the University of Louisiana system from 1999-2001. At age 28, he was the university system's youngest president ever.

7.) He's a Rhodes Scholar.

8.) He received his undergraduate education at Brown University and was named one of the top 20 college seniors in America by USA Today.

9.) His parents immigrated to America from India six months before he was born