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Dollars will Show Success of Jindal's National Stumping

FILE: Gov. Bobby Jindal speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. in 2011.
Gage Skidmore

Gov. Bobby Jindal spent the weekend in Washington, D.C., attracting widespread attention with a set of speeches. Many national pundits think Jindal is laying groundwork for a presidential bid in 2016.

Following the governor’s speech at the winter meeting of the Republican National Convention on Thursday in Charlotte, Jindal went to D.C. for a conference with the nation’s top conservative thinkers, like Paul Ryan and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

Jindal closed that conference with remarks similar to those directed to the RNC. He urged the Republican party to re-craft its image to become more accepting, and move away from narrowly appealing rhetoric. Ryan and Walker had similar talking points.

Robert Mann of LSU’s Manship School of Communications is a local political pundit (and, full disclosure, a WRKF board member) who says Jindal isn’t practicing what he’s preaching in Louisiana.

“He has been one of those intolerant republican leaders, very much opposed to gay rights/marriage equality, pushing teaching creationism in public schools, dismantling the social safety net in Louisiana.”

Mann notes that Jindal’s been overlooked for a spot on the national stage before, and that a potential presidential campaign will hinge on Jindal’s fundraising ability.

“Because the kind of money you have to raise to put on a presidential campaign, you can’t do that in secret, so we’ll know soon enough if he’s able to put anything together.”

Mann says he will have to start fundraising this year.

Kelly grew up in Baton Rouge. She started out in radio at Baton Rouge High where she was first on air at WBRH and KBRH. While studying film and politics at Hendrix College, she reported and hosted for KUAR in Little Rock, AR. She then moved on to KUT in Austin, TX. She misses the dry air, live music at Studio 1A and breakfast tacos, but is happy for crawfish and non-ironic use of Mardi Gras beads.