Jindal stumping today in Ohio for Romney campaign

Gov. Bobby Jindal is back in Ohio today, campaigning for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Jindal spokeswoman Shannon Bates tells The Times-Picayune that the governor’s trip includes an appearance at a fundraiser for Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat. Jindal, who is widely speculated to be among the top three candidates to run on the Romney ticket this fall, was expected to return to Baton Rouge today. Romney was in Baton Rouge Monday for a fundraiser that netted him $2 million from about 40 donors, each of whom forked over $50,000 to lunch with him. Jindal, who attended Monday’s fundraiser, was in Ohio and Pennsylvania—two election battleground states—with the Romney campaign just two weeks ago at the same time that President Barack Obama was campaigning there. In his column today, Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post says Jindal should be Romney’s pick because, “With Jindal as the vice presidential nominee, Republicans would not only get the White House if Romney won but would also have a presidential nominee in waiting after four or eight years. Building that next generation of leaders—particularly those who are not white men—is of critical importance for Republicans’ long-term political prospects. Naming Jindal could go a long way to solving their image problems going forward.” Read the complete column here.