Gov. Bobby Jindal announces he's running for president

Deborah Barfield Berry | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Bobby Jindal’s 2016 presidential run: Why It Matters USA TODAY's Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page explains the four reasons why Bobby Jindal is worth watching for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

WASHINGTON — Gov. Bobby Jindal kicked off his presidential campaign on Wednesday, presenting himself as a "doer" who would shake up Washington.

"We can rock the boat, and we will rock the boat," he told supporters.

The Louisiana governor became the 13th Republican to officially enter the race and has spent months traveling across the country to build support for his campaign.

He made his announcement official earlier in the day on Twitter and now faces an uphill battle to break through in the crowded GOP field.

During his campaign kickoff event in Kenner, La., a New Orleans suburb, Jindal touted his tenure as Louisiana's governor, where he said he shrank the size of government and reformed education.

He also jabbed at his own party, saying he was seeking the White House "without permission from headquarters."

Jindal singled out one of his new rivals for the GOP nomination, Jeb Bush. Jindal said the former Florida governor supported masking conservative positions in a bid to win the general election.

"If we go down that road again, we will lose again," Jindal said.

Jindal is known as a policy wonk and in 2013 created a conservative policy group, America Next, to release his positions on energy, health care, foreign policy and other topics.

He is considered a long shot and trails far behind the top-tier GOP candidates in most national polls.

Albert Samuels, a political scientist at Southern University in Baton Rouge, said Jindal "has no chance."

"He is somewhere between zero and 1% (in polls)," Samuels said. "Bobby Jindal will not get in the (presidential) debate.''

Fox News, sponsor of the first debate in August, has said participation will be limited to candidates in the top 10 of an average of national polls. The network will hold a separate forum earlier in the day for candidates who do not qualify.

Jindal is more popular in early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire than he is back home.

Joshua Stockley, a political scientist at the University of Louisiana in Monroe, said Jindal's low approval ratings in Louisiana "could come back to haunt him, nationally.''

Jindal has said his pre-announcement visits to Washington and other places around the country haven't affected his leadership in Louisiana.

"I've been to places in Louisiana where people have said, 'You're the first governor we've ever seen in my parish,'" he said recently. "That was important for me. I don't think you can do the job sitting behind a desk, and I haven't.''

Jindal, 44, whose term as governor expires in January, once was considered a rising star in the Republican Party. He was the nation's first Indian American governor, and during the 2008 presidential campaign he was discussed as a possible running mate for the GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain.

He's logged an impressive list of accomplishments. A graduate of Brown University, he was a Rhodes Scholar and served as his state's secretary of Health and Hospitals and as president of the Louisiana University System. He's a former chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

He represented Louisiana's 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, after serving as assistant secretary at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department during the George W. Bush administration.

Jindal also was executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare in 1998.

On the road, he has touted his conservative credentials, including his opposition to abortion and to legalizing same-sex marriage.

He's bashed President Obama on the Affordable Care Act and education — particularly on Common Core State Standards, which Jindal once supported.

Jindal recently said Obama hasn't done enough to fight radical Islamic terrorism and has shown himself "incapable of being our commander in chief."

Contributing: Cooper Allen

Follow @dberrygannett on Twitter.