Amid reports that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain could pick his running mate as early as this week, the attention is once again focussed on Indian-American Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal, who had previously denied being in race for vice-president.McCain is travelling to Louisiana on Wednesday and meeting Jindal — an indication that the Arizona Senator is deeply engaged in the process of picking his No 2 and that the 37-year-old Indian American is seriously under consideration, says a writer in the washingtonpost.com blog The Fix.Several times in the past, Jindal had not expressed interest in the vice-presidential nomination, saying he was happy to be heading the State of Louisiana. But 71-year-old McCain’s visit to Louisiana and his meeting with Jindal is raising more than the ordinary interest as this week the Arizona Senator was supposed to be travelling to battleground states. Jindal is widely respected within the Grand Old Party with some top conservatives like former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich saying that he would be the best choice for vice-presidency.Gingrich called Jindal “America’s most transformational Governor” and conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh looks at him in the same mould as the former Republican President Ronald Reagan. If McCain picked Jindal, The Fix notes, it would have several immediate echoes in the race, the first of which being that Senator McCain would essentially cede one of the main pillars of his argument against Obama: experience.“Jindal is nearly a decade younger than Obama and, although he served in Congress before being elected Governor, his foreign policy resume is at least as thin as Obama’s,” the blog said.“Second, and more positively for McCain, naming Jindal would be a major symbolic step in fundamentally re-branding the Republican party. Jindal, an Indian-American, would put a whole new face on a party that is widely seen by voters as controlled by old white men,” it said.“A Jindal pick is the definition of unorthodox. But, in an election cycle where the Republican brand is as badly tarnished as at any time in recent memory, a “Hail Mary” (or “Hail Bobby”) may be warranted,” the blog added.
