Bobby Jindal vows to be a 'doer' as president

KENNER, La. - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal - a onetime Republican rising star now seeking to become one again - announced Wednesday evening that he will run for president in 2016.

"We have a bunch of great talkers running for president," Jindal said at the Pontchartrain Center here in this New Orleans suburb, as supporters waved "Geaux Bobby" signs. "We've had enough of talkers. It is time for a doer."

The 44-year-old son of immigrants was the first Indian American to become a U.S. governor and, now, to become a serious presidential candidate. He sought to play up his long-shot status as a strength, casting himself as a man with nothing to lose, who owed nothing to the Republican establishment.

"I will do the things you cannot do in Washington," he said. "I will say the things you cannot say."

Following a new tradition in U.S. campaigns, Jindal announced his intentions at least three different times Wednesday. First he tweeted it, and then he said it into a microphone at this conference center in Kenner.

And in a novel move, he also released a hidden-camera video earlier in the day purportedly showing how he and his wife had announced the news to their children.

"We have decided we are going to be running for president this year," Jindal said, in the tone of a father saying they were expecting another baby. "That's good? So is that a surprise?"

"Maybe you'll get a chance, if you behave, to go back to Iowa," Jindal told his children. He also promised them a puppy if he became president.

At this point, it looks very unlikely that Jindal's children will get a puppy.

That's because Jindal is the 13th Republican to enter the race, with several more to come. And at the moment, he is at the back of that large pack. In a recent Fox News poll, Jindal got just 1 percent of the vote - putting him behind all the other candidates in the poll. He was also behind "None of the Above," which got 2 percent.

In campaign videos, and in an introductory speech by his wife, Jindal was cast as unafraid to take on long-shot fights.

"The key to Bobby Jindal is that he is absolutely fearless," Supriya Jindal said, adding that she'd turned Jindal down in high school the first time he asked her out.

When Jindal took the stage (to Garth Brooks' "Callin' Baton Rouge") he said he would try to slash the size of the federal government, show strength to American enemies overseas, secure the U.S. border, and try to reform Medicare and Social Security.

Jindal also said - in a portion familiar from his pre-annnouncement stump speeches - that he would make sure new immigrants assimilated to U.S. culture to try to prevent enclaves of immigrants that reject American ways.

Jindal also singled out former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by name as insufficiently conservative. He concluded his speech by saying that - for Republicans to have a chance at winning the presidency - they might need to take a chance on a purist long shot.

"Republicans must stop being afraid to lose," he said. "If we try to hide who we are again, we will lose again."

Just eight years ago, Jindal's political future looked far brighter than it does now.

A native of Baton Rouge, he was born Piyush Jindal but renamed himself "Bobby" after the youngest son on the Brady Bunch sitcom. He became a Rhodes scholar, a McKinsey consultant, and - still in his early 20s - the head of the massive Louisiana health department.

Jindal ran for governor and lost, then ran for Congress and won. He was elected governor on his second try, in 2007.

Back then, Jindal seemed to offer an attractive new vision of what a conservative could be: an Ivy League-educated son of immigrants, who had a relentless focus on making government run faster, smarter, and cleaner.

During his first years, Jindal impressed people in Louisiana as a data-driven, hard-driving governor.

It was politics that he had trouble with. To address doubts among national conservatives, Jindal repeatedly embraced harder-line conservative positions - both in terms of Louisiana's budget and in terms of social issues. But each time, he moved further away from the wonky, pragmatic persona that had made him famous in the first place.

So the doubts grew. And Jindal tried to be more hard line.

At least four Democrats and 13 Republicans have joined the race for president.

Democrats

Lincoln Chafee, former Rhode Island governor.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, former secretary of state, New York senator, and first lady.

Martin O'Malley, former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor.

Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator.

Republicans

Jeb Bush, former Florida governor.

Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon.

Ted Cruz, Texas senator.

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive.

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina senator.

Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor.

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor.

George Pataki, former New York governor.

Rand Paul, Kentucky senator.

Rick Perry, former Texas governor.

Marco Rubio, Florida senator.

Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator.

Donald Trump, billionaire businessman and TV host.

Likely candidates

Republicans:

Gov. Christie

John Kasich, Ohio governor.

Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor.

Democrat:

Jim Webb, former Virginia senator.EndText