Establishes presence in Iowa, New Hampshire.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Louisiana’s Indian American Gov. Bobby Jindal has inched closer to announcing his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election this past fortnight, building organizational presence and hiring staffers in Iowa and New Hampshire.
On Wednesday, Jindal’s camp announced its first hire in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, Henry Goodwin, who worked as a press secretary for the state Republican leader Walt Havenstein during his gubernatorial run last year.
Goodwin will serve as the communications adviser to Jindal’s new political organization American Future Project, which was launched last month.
Just hours after he was hired, Goodwin retweeted a tweet about his new position.
MT @shiracenter: @BobbyJindal hires first #FITN staffer (if he runs) http://t.co/rfaIvQRtEX via @BostonGlobe and @JamesPindell #nhpolitics
— Henry Goodwin (@henrygoodwin) April 8, 2015
The Goodwin hiring came roughly a week after Jindal announced relocating two of his staff members to Iowa, whose caucuses are the first electoral events in the presidential candidates’ nominating process.
The governor’s Iowa office will be manned by Matt Parker and Taylor Teepell, who previously worked at the governor’s office in Baton Rouge. Parker was Jindal’s legislative affairs director and Teepell was the deputy chief of staff. Both resigned on March 31 to move to Iowa.
Another Jindal operative, Jill Neunaber, will also spend considerable time in Iowa, the Des Moines Register reported.
The American Future Project is a so-called section 527 organization. The 527 groups are routinely created to influence elections at federal, state and local levels, and nearly all candidates have such organizations.
Nine days after establishing staff presence in Iowa, Jindal made a public appearance in the state on Thursday at Family Leader’s regional summit in Mount Pleasant, along with three potential primary rivals and ideological soul mates, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum.
According to the Register, Jindal received the “biggest round of applause” from the audience of about 600 gathered at the Christian conservative event.
Jindal is likely to make a formal announcement about the presidential run in June, once the state legislature session concludes, according to the influential Louisiana news portal NOLA.com.
3 Comments
This man should settle for Louisiana, where he is a big fish. His term as Governor willbe over in Jan. 2016 and he cannot run again. Whoever spends money on his campaign will lose their principal and interest. Bobby ‘Piyush” Jindal in the White House..I will leave the porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa !
“…Gov. Bobby Jindal has inched closer to announcing his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election…”
Didn’t realize he was running for the election held three years ago!
Jindal is not a contender. He is already starting to disappear from the list of candidates in 2016 polls of Republican presidential primaries. If he ever got higher in the polls, his performance as Louisiana would wither under the scrutiny. He is the most reviled man in modern Louisiana politics. Obama is more popular than Jindal in Louisiana. Jindal is the new David Duke, that is, he is beyond the pale of decency. Jindal’s career in politics is coming to its end when his term ends in a few months.