God-o-Meter

Is Jindal McCain's Most Likely Veep Pick?

Friday June 6, 2008

Categories: John McCain

jindal.jpgVeepstakes wise, John McCain's biggest decision may be whether to pick a social moderate who would appeal to swing voters but alienate the Christian Right--a Charlie Crist or Tom Ridge--or someone who would clearly excite the Christian Right, a Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, or Bobby Jindal. Of the second category, God-o-Meter thinks Jindal might be McCain's most likely choice.

While Huckabee would get McCain evangelical voters, he wouldn't get other kinds of voters that McCain wants for his big-tent vision of Republicanism. Mitt Romney's a hit with Religious Right leaders, but rank-and-file religious conservatives are still wary of him, both because of his past social liberalism and (unfortunately, in God-o-Meter eyes) his Mormon faith.

Jindal, meanwhile is a Christian Right golden boy but doesn't wear it on his sleeve. He's a lot like George W. Bush in that way. And his penchant for campaigning as an economic conservative first and foremost--unlike, say Huckabee--means his style would mesh nicely with McCain's.

The Wall Street Journal captures this possible McCain/Jindal gel in its portrait of them campaigning together in Louisiana:

Gov. Jindal has succeeded in the state at gaining the backing of social conservatives and pro-business fiscal hawks, while appealing to moderate suburbanites -- the formula many Republicans believe Sen. McCain must achieve to win the presidency.

Gov. Jindal has done it partly by making clear he personally embraces social conservative orthodoxies such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage -- but soft-pedaling them in public. While running for governor in 2007 (he narrowly lost an earlier bid for the office in 2003), he rarely raised such hot-button issues on the stump. Instead, he campaigned largely on free-market themes such as cutting taxes to stimulate growth, and a populist pledge, honed from his days as a state and federal technocrat, to solve problems. Gov. Jindal, a double major in public policy and biology at Brown University, who passed up acceptances at both law school and medical school to be a Rhodes Scholar, won the election running away.

But that strategy may be hard to pull off in the glare of a national candidacy when his views on issues such as abortion and religion in schools would certainly be meticulously examined. The Louisiana governor, who converted to Catholicism from Hinduism in college, is against abortion in nearly all circumstances and supports teaching "intelligent design" in public schools. As a congressman, he voted to build a fence at the Mexico border.

There's one other Jindal-like possibility for McCain: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, another social conservative who's not as up front about it as Huckabee and not as hard to believe about it as Romney. God-o-Meter puts its money on McCain picking Jindal or Pawlenty. Unless, of course, he really does plan to write off the Christian Right in this election. Then he'll pick Crist.

3

Advertisement
Comments
Charles Cosimano
June 6, 2008 12:55 PM

Jindal is just too young. Standing next to McCain he would make McCain look like he is ready for the grave. Crist would deliver Florida's electoral votes and probably ensure McCain's election.

Paul
June 6, 2008 1:02 PM

Until New Orleans is restored, rebuilt and law and order is brought to it, I will not say that Jindal has proven anything. Sure he's young, bright and Christian but he's Catholic and most of the Religious Right (You may have noticed I never call them Christian)think of Catholics as heathens and idolaters. I don't think they will be won over to McCain.

Chris
June 24, 2008 11:13 AM

I agree that Jindal and Pawlente are the two choices for Mccain, however, Mitt is the electoral choice as a possibilities. I think Jindal is a must have for Mccain....the cry of fear in loosing Jindal in LA is apparent to how effective he has been considering he has only been governor for 6 months. If he can get this much reform in as governor for 6 months, imagine what this guy will do as VP in the next 4 years. I feel for LA but I think Jindal is a home boy and will do LA much good as VP. Honestly, this is a no brainer....Mccain must choose Jindal for more reasons then I can possibly list here....

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.



Please type the text you see in the box below to verify your post and help us prevent spam. You have a limited time to type - you may wish to compose your comment in a separate document and paste it here upon completion.

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Advertisement

About God-o-Meter

This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about politics in our Politics forums.

The God-o-Meter (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other top-secret criteria (Actually, the adjustment criteria are here). Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly recalibrating!

God-o-Meter blogger Dan Gilgoff is Beliefnet's Politics Editor. A former political correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, he is author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War.

Search This Blog

Advertisement

Advertisement


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.