Bobby Jindal dismisses invisible primary: ‘Forget the polls’

“Forget the polls, forget the fundraising, forget the consultants, forget the media,” Jindal said. “We need our next president to want to do something, not be somebody.”

Jindal, who consistently polls in the low single digits in key primary states and nationally, has tried to present himself as the policy wonk Republicans need in the White House. He has spent the past year thinking hard about solutions, he implied Thursday, rather than engaging in the rat race for president.

Of course, Jindal has been thinking hard about the race for president, too, with frequent trips outside of Louisiana to network in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and raise money. He attempted to bolster his foreign policy credentials last month with a trip to London, drawing headlines with a controversial remark about “no-go zones” in Europe.

Looking for an applause line Thursday, Jindal touted that episode, which was widely panned in press reports as a misstep.

“I gave a speech in London that made a couple of people upset,” Jindal grinned, to chuckles.

Jindal also hoped to earn approval from the crowd with a focus on “radical Islamic terrorism,” offering harsh criticism of President Obama for insisting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is not reflective of Islam.

“We’ve got a president who won’t even name the opponent we face,” Jindal said. “We don’t need a war on international poverty, we need a war on the evil that is radical Islamic terrorism.”

Those lines were well-received, but the reception was relatively tepid for Jindal compared to that for the speaker who preceded him, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker has rocketed to frontrunner status in the past few weeks, and has taken an early lead in Iowa according to a new poll this week from Quinnipiac University. Whereas Walker received 25 percent in that survey, Jindal’s share was just 2 percent.