McCain cancels La. trip; Jindal denies VP rumors

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 24, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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U.S. Sen. John McCain canceled a visit Wednesday to Louisiana that the national media had been reporting earlier this week as possibly having vice presidential implications.

After the announcement, Gov. Bobby Jindal said in an interview that he would not be the presumptive Republican presidential candidate’s running mate.

Both Jindal and McCain’s campaign spokesman denied the national media speculation that McCain possibly would choose a GOP vice presidential candidate this week and that the trip to New Orleans could mean that Louisiana’s 37-year-old governor was the choice.

McCain’s trip to Louisiana was a campaign event to contrast McCain’s plans to lower gasoline prices with ideas being forwarded by the expected Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said Tom Kise, McCain’s campaign spokesman. Jindal agreed.

Jindal said he never has spoken directly to McCain about being the GOP’s vice presidential nominee. However, in conversations with officials inside McCain’s campaign, Jindal said he told them repeatedly that he is not interested in being vice president.

“I’m not going to be the nominee,” Jindal said in an interview Wednesday. “He’s not going to offer it to me. And I’ve told them, I’ve made it clear in all our conversations, private and public, every conversation, that I’ve got the job that I want.”

Jindal became governor in January after winning election in the October primary. Jindal said he wants to remain Louisiana’s governor.

Jindal frequently appears on national television programs discussing McCain’s policies and positions.

“I support him. His positions on national security and energy production are more in line with the majority view of American voters,” Jindal said.

Jindal’s name popped up as a serious candidate for vice president when in May the governor visited McCain’s Sedona, Ariz., ranch along with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. The weekend was billed as purely social but that didn’t stop conservative  bloggers and talk-radio hosts from speculating that Jindal was on McCain’s short list.

CNN reported Tuesday that McCain’s visit to Louisiana would feature a private discussion with Jindal. At the same time, CNN and syndicated columnist Robert Novak quoted unnamed McCain aides as saying top campaign officials were discussing the possibility of naming a running mate this week.

McCain was scheduled to arrive late Wednesday night and meet with Jindal at his hotel near the New Orleans airport, Kise said. Then this morning, the plans called for both Jindal and McCain to fly out to an offshore oil rig for a campaign event aimed at drawing the difference between McCain’s and Obama’s energy policies, Kise said.

McCain and the Republicans have been pushing for more drilling for crude oil, particularly in offshore areas. Democrats, also support increased drilling but with more discretion.