Jindal 2nd in straw poll for 2012 Republican Prez nomination

Thrust into the spotlight as a Republican rising star following the party's drubbing in the November 4 polls, the Indian-American governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, has bagged the second spot in a straw poll for the 2012 presidential nomination.

Conducted by the Conservative Political Action Convention, the straw poll held among its 1757 registrants from February 26 to 28, was won by Mitt Romany, former Massachusetts governor.

A straw poll is a vote with non-binding results. Romney bagged 20 per cent of the total votes polled, while Jindal received 14 per cent of the votes, CPAC announced on Saturday night.

Jindal, 37, was closely followed by Ron Paul, the Congressman from Texas, and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Both of them received 13 per cent of the total votes polled.

Republicans were defeated in the November 4 United States presidential elections which were swept by the Democrat Barack Obama.

Political analysts say the CPAC straw poll gives an insight into the thinking of the Republicans; but this is not a scientific poll.

Jindal, the first Indian-American to be elected as the governor of a US state, is considered to be one of the rising stars of the Republican party and said to be in the lead to bag the 2012 Republican nomination to the presidential poll.

Jindal was asked by the party leadership to deliver the Republican response to the Congressional address of US President Barack Obama recently.