Chants of “Bobby! Bobby!” erupted, drowning out the country music playing overhead as U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal entered the Cotillion Ballroom on Friday afternoon. Nearly 100 students attended the public event hosted by College Republicans to support Jindal, a Republican candidate in the Oct. 20 Louisiana gubernatorial election. Jindal discussed the need to improve education and retention of college graduates in Louisiana, a state he said loses 30,000 people each year. “I want you to be able to pursue your dreams right here in Louisiana,” he said. “I’m tired of us losing our young people to Texas. I want Texans to complain about losing their young people to Louisiana.” Jindal said he understands the importance of education from family experience. He said his mother attended the University when he was born in 1971, and his father – one of nine children – was the only one to go to college. “Education is linked to lower crime rates and better economic growth rates,” he said. “We don’t have enough young people going to school, graduating from college and staying in Louisiana. We have a very high dropout rate and very high out-migration rate.” Jindal also noted the importance of ethics reform to his potential administration. “Corruption is stealing opportunities from our young people, literally,” he said. “We’ve been the butt of those jokes for so long, but it’s not funny anymore. I’ve got a detailed, 31-point plan to set the gold standard for ethics right here in Louisiana.” The University surveyed 945 business leaders, asking what the state could do to create better jobs. Cracking down on corruption was tied for first place with improving public schools. “There’s a reason we’re last on all those lists,” Jindal told The Daily Reveille. “It’s because the hogs of the trough have fed themselves, and they haven’t worried about the rest of the state.” Stephen Butterfield, history freshman and College Republican, said Jindal would be a vast improvement from Gov. Kathleen Blanco. In 2003, Blanco defeated Jindal for the governor’s seat. “Kathleen Blanco has been the worst governor in the history of the great state of Louisiana,” he said. “There is a point in politics where you have to go on trust. And you have to look at Bobby, and he’s the best alternative we’ve got right now. He’s our last hope.” James Bullman, treasurer of College Democrats, said he thinks Jindal is an “OK, ethical individual” but not necessarily the best choice to run the state. “It’s not just his conservative tendencies but how his staunch conservatism meshes in with how our state has been run in the past,” Bullman said. Bullman said Jindal’s three main competitors – Democrat state Sen. Walter Boasso, Populist Democrat Foster Campbell and independent candidate John Georges – are fighting over the same votes, a situation “that is not conducive to winning.” “We don’t have a solid individual in the race,” Bullman said. “As far as pulling off an upset, maybe Boasso can do it, but I personally don’t think that’s going to be much of a reality. No one’s really galvanizing a massive amount of the vote except Bobby Jindal.”
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