The American Conservative Union announced today that Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has been added to the roster of speakers at CPAC 2013, to be held March 14-16 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. From the official press release:
“Governor Bobby Jindal represents a new generation of governors leading the conservative movement,” said ACU Chairman Al Cardenas. “We look forward to welcoming Governor Jindal back to the CPAC stage and hearing about the many conservative solutions he introduced in Louisiana.”
Before becoming Governor, Jindal previously served two terms in the U.S. Congress representing the First District of Louisiana, where he was elected Freshman Class President and served as Assistant Majority Whip. In 1994, Jindal went to work for McKinsey and Company as a consultant before entering public service. In 1996, he was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH). In 1998, Jindal was appointed Executive Director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare as well as President of the University of Louisiana System, the 16th largest higher education system in the country.
That gives us the whole firmament of emerging Republican stars for 2016 – Jindal, Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and of course others who may yet enter the discussion as possible candidates – speaking at CPAC… along with both members of the 2012 ticket, Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan. The 2016 contenders have generally been working to distance themselves from Romney’s campaign. For his part, Romney says he is “eager to contribute to the national debate,” and might just be doing so with a high-profile position in the media. It will be fascinating to see them all speak from the same stage.
It would be enlightening to put them all together into a roundtable discussion about the lessons of the past election, and the challenges of the next one… but of course you won’t get something like that until the 2016 primaries, when tradition demands it will be moderated by hostile liberal media outfits, not the American Conservative Union. Maybe the ACU should give some thought to changing that tradition, and set up such a pre-primary debate at a future CPAC, to give the public a less darkly slanted early look at the candidates.
