BusinessReport.com

Criticized though he may be for not appearing at more candidate forums, Congressman Bobby Jindal is only following the first rule of the front-runner’s handbook, which is to spend as little time as possible in his opponents’ line of fire.

Jindal finally got around to agreeing to a third televized forum, on Oct. 4, seen only in Shreveport. There will be two forums televised statewide, Sept 27 on Louisiana Public Broadcasting and Oct. 18 on CBS affiliates.

The League of Women Voters and a number of Fox stations across the state tried to set up a forum using the novel format of college student-body presidents asking the questions. But Jindal passed on it.

He as also skipped over a dozen nontelevized forums that his opponents have committed to attend. Relatively few voters would see those events live, but news reports of how candidates differ inform more than repetitious TV ads do.

So, only three appearances, two of them statewide. Not enough, but seemingly all we’re going to get.

This governor’s race would be more interesting and engaging to voters—some might even realize there is an election going on—if the candidates could exchange their ideas more in person than in position papers, which seems to be the front-runner’s favorite medium.

Jindal has defended his standoffish position by challenging his opponents to first put forward their positions on issues, as he is doing with the steady release of his multi-point policy papers. That’s a dodge. Voters looking to be informed don’t need a symposium, but rather to hear candidates state and defend what they stand for.

That’s power politics, and Jindal has good reasons to play it that way. When he does meet the competition, it will be in the role of target for Walter Boasso, Foster Campbell and John Georges. Jindal can take care of himself verbally one-on-one, but at three-on-one, someone can land a punch.

Even if he holds his own or out-talks the bunch, appearing as an equal with worthy competitors does not fit Jindal’s campaign strategy. This race started last year as a referendum on Gov. Kathleen Blanco, and, though she’s long gone and Jindal’s the man to beat, he doesn’t want this election to turn into a referendum on himself.

Instead, he wants to frame this election as a choice between himself and the past. To hear his first commercials, you would think his opponent is someone named Corruption, Incompetence and Out-of-Control Spending, who has an evil running mate named Crime. The more voters see that as their choice, the harder he is to beat.

Another danger for Jindal with too much side-by-side comparison is how similar three of the candidates—except for Campbell—are on key issues. They may vary some on solutions, but their shared campaign theme is that government is broken and needs a radical top-down fix. Then it becomes a question of character, leadership and who can get the job done. Better for Jindal for keep the choices down to himself vs. the ghost of Edwin Edwards.

It’s not like Jindal is ignoring his opposition. His supporters are relieved to see him responding to attacks against him. When Boasso said Jindal’s $178,000 in contributions from insurance companies proved he was too cozy with that industry, his commercials answered that Boasso, depicted as a clown, also had taken insurance money and had voted for an industry-backed bill to raise the minimum mandatory coverage for car insurance.

Rarely does it score points with voters to criticize the source of your opponent’s money. For starters, $178,000 out of Jindal’s $7 million war chest hardly seems out of line. And it only takes one check to Boasso from his insurance agent for him to be accused of feeding at the same trough.

There is bound to be more such barbs exchanged in 30-second bites for the remainder of the campaign. Yet voters are better served when candidates talk to instead of past one another. The shame is that those conversations will barely begin before the election ends.