As the holiest day of the year for Christians fast approaches, I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. In today’s politically correct society, many people and businesses refrain from wishing each other “Merry Christmas” instead preferring the more generic “Happy Holidays.” I believe that each of us should remember the true meaning of December 25. It is the day of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and Christians everywhere celebrate the day according to their own traditions.

Our world faces many problems. As we in America deal with some of the most important issues of our lifetime, such as a struggling economy, health care reform, rising taxes and an expansion of the federal government, As Americans, even with all of our problems, we have much to celebrate. We live in the greatest country the world has ever known.

I hope that each of us will take the time to contemplate and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. On this day, our Savior was born. Because of his birth, mankind has received the promise of eternal life.

My family and I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. To our non-Christian friends we say Happy Holidays. Please remember to pray for our troops, as they serve thousands of miles away from home. May they be safe and return to their families soon.

And from the email card I got from Governor Jindal’s office (along with millions of others!)

As we gather to celebrate the holidays, this time of year brings so many wonderful memories, such as mom’s Christmas ham or a child’s first Christmas morning.  In our house, we celebrate with a birthday cake for Jesus. This is indeed a special time of year and I hope everyone has an opportunity to sit down with family and friends to truly grasp the meaning of the holiday season. I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas, and hope that you have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Again, have a BLESSED Christmas.  No blogs until after Christmas unless something exciting happens like Heath Shuler switches parties!

The campaign of the seeming front-runner in 2012, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has now sprung a serious leak.  Believe me, this gives me no joy.  I believe that Gov. Huckabee tends toward mercy and he may have allowed several to be released when they did not deserve. 

With no national buzz for former Massachusetts Mitt Romney and many party leaders frightened about the nomination of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the party leaders may have to decide who to support.  That may well be Jindal. 

Besides, if the Saints have an undefeated season and win the Super Bowl, that ought to be reason enough to support the visionary governor!

This is a bit of a surprise.  I thought Romney and Palin would be strong but not behind Huckabee.  Jindal did not place in this poll but many believe he will not run in 2012 and the Louisiana governor has not been in the public eye.

Palin’s book is about to come out and that will increase the visibility of the former VP candidate in 2008.  Speaking of visibility, it appears that Palin is not campaigning in either NJ or VA.  Governor Jindal has a book coming out soon, too – sometime next year.

Here’s where I place former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee.  He is a cult icon for evangelicals but he also has this TV show that he seems to genuinely have fun with (and has high ratings).  There is this interesting site that makes me wonder.  I think unless he has polling numbers and fundraising potential showing a real chance, he’ll not walk away from a sure thing.  I wish he’d run in 201o against Sen. Blanche Lincoln.  

Former PA Senator Rick Santorum is apparently testing the waters in Iowa.  I agree with most of Santorum’s views.  It’s a shame that the people of PA put him out.  However, I think he’ll not have staying power.  I can’t see him being more than a fringe candidate. 

Former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush is a great candidate – if his name was not Bush.  But he has some support.  He may be a future candidate, if the American people decide by 2016 or 2020 then Jeb Bush might be a winner.  But not now.  Maybe George P. Bush after two terms as Governor of Florida in say 2032!

Congressman Eric Cantor (who is my congressman) would be a formidible candidate except, he’d have to give up what may be an apparent goal of being Speaker of the House.  I do not think Virginia allows multiple candidacies at the same time. 

Want an experienced candidate?  How does former Secretary of the Interior (under Bush 43), Mayor of major city (Boise, Idaho), Senator and Governor sound?  Try Dirk Kempthorne.  He’s from Idaho and I like the Mountain West (Go Boise State – bust the BCS cartel!) area.  Thanks again to GOP 12 for this lead.  Mark Ambinder at Atlantic has a very good assessment on Sec. Kempthorne.  Here’s a highlight:

Kempthorne, who served as President Bush’s final Secretary of the Interior, is widely known to environmental advocates as a dedicated opponent of regulation and of the Endangered Species Act. His tenture at Interior was pockmarked by scandals — all gifts from his predecessors. But he was also a fan of the National Park System and convinced the administration to prioritize its expansion. In his farewell address, he took credit for tough new ethics rules. During his one term as a senator, his bill to quash unfunded federal mandates for local governments is now law.  Californians and Oregonians credit him for breaking the longstanding impasse over damming the Klamath River. In Idaho, he took the sleepy and rundown city of Boise and rebuilt it.  But his public profile is no higher than that although the American Indian community presumably knows him well from his Interior service. Kempthorne began his political career as a consultant and campaign manager. He’s a fiscal and social conservative with no deviations from the orthodoxy. As a former chairman of the National Governors’ Association and because of his dealings with oil, coal and natural resource enterprises, he could probably raise enough seed money to get started.

That’s not bad except his base is small.  Idaho has only four electoral votes.  If Kempthorne could pull together an idea that was banded about – that the Mountain West would have their primary on the same day – that might increase his base.  Kempthorne could be a good addition to a 2012 ticket from the East or South.

 More not likelies in my next blog entry!  I promise I will get to Mitch Daniels!  Amd Jindal!

I believe that Governor Jindal can be many of those things that evangelicals admire about Huckabee. He has a personal testimony of salvation. Esquire Magazine reports that Jindal was saved as a teen due to the witness of a high school date. He hid his conversion to Christianity from his parents, according to Mike Sager, by studying the Bible in his closet. Jindal is a Roman Catholic who speaks of his faith in terms acceptable to most believers. This quote is telling in an interview with Cal Thomas in World on January 13, 2009:

“I read Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven® Life right after I lost my first election in 2003, and one of the main lessons I got out of that was keeping the eternal perspective. If we truly believe what we read in the Bible and hear in our churches there are a lot of things we worry about in life that aren’t that important from an eternal perspective.”

…”Second, viewing the sanctity of life, I believe the reason people are valuable is that they are created in the image of God and there’s a dignity there. And that leads me to believe people should have access to health care, not because of policy reasons, but because they’re valuable because we are created by God in His image.”

Jindal also brings other strengths to the political table that should make him attractive to Christians. He favors fairness in science teaching to allow non-religious teaching of intelligent design in schools. Jindal also is pro-life and against federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He also has standard conservative positions on issues near and dear to believers.

Furthermore, Jindal’s immigrant roots and tremendous accomplishments should encourage others to achieve their dreams. Whether Gov. Jindal ever serves in the White House or not, he will put a new face on conservative politics. Evangelicals should support him in his efforts to reform Louisiana and pray for Governor Jindal regularly.