Gov. Bobby Jindal rising higher in Mitt Romney running mate chatter
by Jonathan Tilove - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

That distant rumbling you hear from along the Potomac is the steady drumbeat of influential conservative opinion-makers who in the past couple of weeks have very publicly declared that Mitt Romney ought seriously to consider making Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal his running mate for the 2012 presidential campaign. Whether or not the inside-the Beltway boomlet has any actual influence on Romney's decision is unknowable. But, by the end of last week, Jindal was number 2 on National Journal's Hotline "Veepstakes Power Rannking," up from number 7 in its last ranking in early April, and second only to Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. "Jindal is the rare candidate who satisfies both major schools of thought on a VP pick," wrote The Hotline. "The school that argues for an exciting, outside-the-box candidate wouldn't mind the nation's first Indian-American governor, and the school that argues for a serious policy wonk would be thrilled with one of the GOP's leading voices on issues like education reform." Jindal had earned a coveted spot on the short list of people who are talked about as a serious contender, if only because so many well-placed people were talking about it.