Bobby Jindal Charts History

The American Dream is alive and kicking. In what is termed as a "landmark win," prominent US Republican Bobby Jindal won Louisiana gubernatorial race and became the first ever Indian American to become governor of any of the 50 US states. Son of Indian immigrants from Maler Kotla, a small town in Sangrur district of Punjab, the 36-year-old won 444,550 votes or 53 percent on October 20, 2007 and will be the country's youngest governor in office when he is takes office in January, 2008.
Jindal easily defeated 11 opponents and became the state's first nonwhite governor since Reconstruction, decades after his parents moved to the state from India to pursue the American dream.

Four years ago, Jindal lost the Louisiana governor's election to Kathleen Blanco. A year later, he won a congressional seat in conservative suburban New Orleans but was widely believed to have his eye on the governor's mansion. Blanco opted out of the 2007 gubernatorial race after being widely blamed for the state's slow response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

"Let's give our homeland, the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start," a visibly jubilant Jindal told cheering supporters after his historic win, with his wife standing by his side.

"My mom and dad came to this country in pursuit of the American dream. And guess what happened. They found the American dream to be alive and well right here in Louisiana," he said to cheers and applause at his victory party. He also paid tribute to his wife, who was standing next to him carrying the youngest of their three children by saying, "as anyone who knows me knows, there's no Bobby without Supriya."

Bobby's nearest competitors:
Democrat Walter Boasso with 208,690 votes or 18 percent; Independent John Georges had 167,477 votes or 14 percent; Democrat Foster Campbell had 151,101 or 13 percent. Eight candidates divided the rest. "I'm asking all of our supporters to get behind our new governor," Georges said in a concession speech.
Jindal pledged to fight corruption and rid Louisiana those "feeding at the public trough," revisiting a campaign theme. "They can either go quietly or they can go loudly, but either way, they will go," he said, adding that he would call the Legislature into special session to address ethics reform. According to political analysts, Jindal built up support as a sort of "buyer's remorse" from people who voted for Blanco last time and had second thoughts about that decision. Miguel Bustillo, of the Los Angeles Times, wrote, his election has set "a string of firsts and leaving no doubt that the state's voters strongly desire new leadership two years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

In a lengthy story on him, The New York Times wrote, "He makes a particular case for a "war on corruption," as he puts it, in Baton Rouge, proposing to tighten financial disclosures on lobbyists and legislators and to prohibit business relationships between legislators and the state. He promises to build up infrastructure like ports, to devote attention to research universities and promote technical training."

"The ascendancy of the Brown- and Oxford-educated Mr. Jindal, an unabashed policy wonk who has produced a stream of multipoint plans, is likely to be regarded as a racial breakthrough of sorts in this oncesegregated state. Still, it is one with qualifiers attached."

Mr. Jindal, with his decisive victory on October 20, 2007, appears to have overcome a significant racial hurdle that blocked him in 2003, according to analysts: race-based opposition in the deeply conservative northern and eastern parishes of Louisiana that once supported the Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. It was an unusual choice for a state that usually picks its leaders from deep in the rural hinterlands and has not had a nonwhite chief executive since Reconstruction. However, peculiar circumstances have combined to make Jindal, a conservative born-again Christian and two-term Republican, the overwhelming favorite.

Jindal made a particular campaign target of these areas, visiting them frequently and bringing his brand of devout Christianity to their rural churches. His social-conservative message teaching "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution in public schools, a total ban on abortion, repealing hate-crimes laws" would have been welcome in these areas."

"I think the Jindal camp, almost explicitly, (wanted) to cast it this way: If you were able to revote, who would you vote for?" said Pearson Cross, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette political scientist. Jindal has held a strong lead in the polls since the field of candidates became settled nearly two months ago. But the two multimillionaires in the race - Boasso, a state senator from St. Bernard Parish, and Georges, a New Orleans-area businessman poured millions of their own dollars into their campaigns to try to prevent Jindal's victory.

Campbell, a public service commissioner from Bossier Parish, had less money but ran on a singular plan: scrapping the state income tax on businesses and individuals and levying a new tax on oil and gas processed in Louisiana. The race was one of the highest-spending in Louisiana history. Jindal alone raised $11 million, and Georges poured about $10 million of his personal wealth into his campaign war chest while Boasso plugged in nearly $5 million of his own cash.

Democrats make up about half of the 2.8 million registered voters in Louisiana, outnumbering Republicans by nearly 2 to 1. But the number of registered Democrats has dropped by nearly 57,000 since the 2005 hurricanes. Residents have criticized the state government, which is dominated by Democrats, as incompetent and corrupt. In 1996, two years after graduate school at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, he was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) and he led an effort to revamp Louisiana's Medicaid Program that was facing a severe deficit.

In 1998, Bobby was appointed Executive Director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel under the chairmanship of former U.S. Senator John Breaux (D-LA) and Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA).

He returned to Louisiana state government in 1999, when he accepted an appointment to become President of the University of Louisiana System, the 16th largest higher education system in the country. In any year, the system oversees the education of 80,000 individuals. After serving in that capacity for two years, Bobby was appointed Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. This Presidential appointment made Bobby a senior health policy advisor to President George W. Bush.

Bobby is a native of Louisiana, born in Baton Rouge. He is a graduate of the Louisiana Public School System, Brown University (with a 4.0 Grade Point Average) and Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar, having turned down admissions to medical and law schools at both Harvard and Yale. President George WBush has also congratulated Jindal and described his win as an "incredible honor." And White House Deputy Spokesman Tony Fratto, said .. "he President spoke to Bobby Jindal yesterday, congratulated him. It was really an excellent win for Bobby. I think the race was a little bit tougher than the numbers showed. I think something that we were all encouraged about was the strength of Republicans down on the ticket, who also performed very well." "... first generation Americans - speaking as a first generation American, having the opportunity to serve your country or your state or your city is an incredible honor, and we're obviously very happy for Bobby Jindal," Fratto added. As news of Jindal's victory spread, the Indian community was overjoyed. Jindal's longtime friend and supporter, Dr. Akshay Desai, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based physician and entrepreneur, told NRI Today, "Bobby is a very dear longstanding friend of nearly a decade. His win has opened a pathway for the second generation Indian Americans that they can get what they want.

He has given them an opportunity to achieve their dreams." Dr. Desai, one of the eight Indian Americans to be honored with the 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, said, "I was one of his supporters four years ago when he lost the gubernatorial race and I have always believed in him." In fact, on September 20, 2007, at a fundraiser held by Dr. Desai, "more than $100,000 was raised for Jindal's campaign."
"Bobby's win is also significant because Louisiana has a miniscule Indian- American community unlike some other States. And yet he won by an overwhelming support of the majority of the population because of his honesty, sincerity and because of his reputation as the one who fixed up Louisiana's healthcare system and as a fighter against corruption, " added Dr. Desai, an influential Florida Republican and founder, president and CEO of Universal Health Care Inc. and president of American Family & Geriatric Care.

The affluent Indian community in Long Island, New York, also could not help but express its elation. Many community leaders felt that his win "served as a model for the local community."
Harsh Bhasin, a visiting professor of International Relations at Stony Brook University and the former consul general of Indian in New York, said, there is absolute jubilation and it reflects the community here and back home, this is terrific.
Everyone's been watching this very carefully." He added, "The win, "sends a very good message to the Indian community at large to become more involved in local politics."

Mayor Harvinder "Harry" Anand of the Village of Laurel Hollow, believed to be Long Island's first Indian mayor elected in June of this year, said Jindal's win highlights the fact that Indians are now assimilating more effectively into American society and politics. "I'm absolutely delighted to hear that, I think he's a person with a lot of capabilities to serve his community. One of the things his election highlights is how Indian-Americans are respected for their talents and skills and how they can assimilate in this society."

In India, celebrations erupted in Jindal's ancestral Khanpura village with his family members and locals distributing sweets and performing bhangra. "We are really proud that Bobby has finally made it and won the Governor's race. It's a great honor not just for our family, but Punjab and the nation as well as the son of this soil have achieved something really big," Bobby's 37-year-old cousin Gulshan Jindal said.

Villagers began queuing up outside homes of various family members as soon as television channels broke the news of Bobby's victory. Gulshan said he has faint memories of Bobby as a child. "Though we are of the same age group, we only met once when he had come to Maler Kotla with his father nearly three decades back."
He said that while Amur Jindal, Bobby's father, a graduate with an engineering degree from Guru Nanak Dev University, had settled in the US four decades ago along with wife Raja, a lecturer, while his three other had settled in Maler Kotla. "Now, that Bobby has registered an impressive win in the gubernatorial poll defeating his opponents, we want that he should find time and visit his ancestral village. It will be a great occasion for all of us," said Gulshan, who runs a small business here.

"It's a big day for the entire family. We're very proud that he has reached such a high position in the United States," said Subhash Jindal, a cousin who runs a pharmacy in Maler Kotla. "He may be thousands of miles away from us, but today we feel like he is amongst us. Both Bobby and his younger brother, Naresh, were born in the United States," he says, recalling that Bobby has "always been proud of his humble background. He has achieved so much at such a young age. He has done the family proud."

Another overjoyed paternal aunt Kamla Devi recalled how her brother (Jindal's father) migrated to America four decades back. "But we have always kept in touch. As for Bobby, he was brilliant since his childhood."

"We are celebrating Bobby's victory because it may bring opportunities to others who aspire to settle abroad," said a 25- year-old resident, Mohammed Aslam. Despite the fact that many here haven't seen Jindal, who has never visited India, the village folk have kept in touch with him. "He spoke to me on phone 15 days back and promised to come to our village after elections. We are sure he will visit very soon," said a relative, Pappu Jindal.

Some of his relatives weren't able to digest the fact that they weren't by his side at his finest hour, but there was one particularly ecstatic relative, Laxmi, who said there will be a next time: It's now her wish to see Jindal in the White House! "The day may not be far when he becomes the US president," she said. These words may prove to be highly prophetic. Like the Lotto says, "Hey you never know."