Gustav provides test for rising Louisiana governor

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has been considered a rising star among conservative Republicans but not until Hurricane Gustav did he face a major test of his leadership credentials.

In initial reaction, he appeared to have passed with flying colors.

The 37-year-old, Republican of Indian heritage, who took office in January, was already getting a name for himself among conservatives before Gustav struck on Monday.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh described him as "the next Ronald Reagan" in reference to the former president considered a hero by many Republicans. Jindal, a conservative Catholic, had also been talked about as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Gustav was his first major storm as governor in a state still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed 1,500 and irreparably damaged the reputation of his Democratic predecessor Kathleen Blanco. Thousands were stranded in New Orleans for days and Blanco was accused of crumbling under the enormity of the disaster.

As such, it was a make-or-break moment for Jindal.

Gustav proved less destructive than Katrina and no levees broke in New Orleans as they had in 2005. But Jindal pushed for the evacuation of 1.9 million people prior to the storm, a move largely credited for a low death toll of six.

Gary Cambor, resident of the Lower Ninth Ward wiped out Katrina, recognized Jindal's pivotal role.

"He's a very smart man," said Cambor. "He didn't panic. It seemed like our last governor (Blanco) panicked, you could hear it in her voice. You could hear confidence in his (Jindal's) voice, and it was nice to hear."

With the precision of a driven corporate CEO, Jindal has appeared on TV every few hours, giving minute details on power outages, oil refinery closures, ice deliveries and medical evacuees, down to the last digit.

"He was armed with the facts. He really had his act together. It (the evacuation) was the largest out-migration in U.S. history and they did it in an orderly fashion," said political consultant and pollster Bernie Pinsonat, who is based in Baton Rouge, the state capital.

"He is a rising political star, no question about it," Pinsonat added.

INDIA CONNECTION

Unlike Blanco with Katrina, Jindal worked closely with federal and local officials to get aid, equipment and law enforcement on the ground before Gustav hit.

"The governor has done an outstanding job keeping 24-48 hours ahead of the storm," said Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who was by his side at every briefing.

Prior to the storm Jindal's approval ratings were around 70 percent -- a stark contrast to the low esteem in which many public officials in the state have historically been held.

Louisiana has a long tradition of passing political office between members of the same families, but the Oxford-educated Jindal comes in as the consummate outsider.

In a year in which race and gender have been hot political topics because of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, Jindal's ethnic identity does him no harm.

Jindal was born in 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to parents who had recently arrived from Punjab, India, as graduate students. His real name is Piyush, but Bobby stuck at the age of four because of his fondness for Bobby on the TV show "The Brady Bunch."

He is not only the youngest current governor in the United States but the first Indian-American governor.

Both are an asset in a party dominated by America's white majority and an aging one at that. McCain, if elected, will be country's oldest person elected president for the first time.

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in New Orleans, Editing by Mary Milliken and David Wiessler)