Telling a packed room at the Baton Rouge Press Club that he’s “dedicated to the people who elected him” and that he intends to serve them well, Gov. Bobby Jindal this week announced he will mount a vigorous campaign for re-election in the 2011 governor’s election, a strong push for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, a dynamic crusade for re-election as president of the United States in 2016, and an energetic bid for appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 2020. However, the first-term governor acknowledged that, should the first two bids come up short, he intends to immediately move to Mississippi’s 4th congressional district, where he’ll be eligible to run — according to the state’s residency laws — in 2014, and where current incumbent Democrat Gene Taylor might be vulnerable. “Gene Taylor is a liberal Democrat following the same old liberal ideology,” Jindal said. “Gene Taylor supports health care, and, get this, Gene Taylor supports volcano monitoring.” Many assembled in the room gasped.
Asked by a correspondent for Louisiana State Newspapers whether he supports the “same old liberal ideology,” Jindal replied, “No. I do not.”
The announcement caused no small uproar among the members of the press. But following the news conference, Jindal aide-de-camp Timmy Teeple clarified. “I really don’t see Bobby Jindal moving to Mississippi to seek a congressional seat,” Teeple said. “He fully intends on winning re-election as governor of Louisiana, and then resigning in order to seek the GOP nomination, which I’m confident he’ll get. Bobby’s unbelievably popular outside Louisiana.”