BATON ROUGE, La. — For a man who swears he has no desire to be the Republican vice presidential nomination, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is doing a bad job of appearing uninterested.

Mr. Jindal, who at 36 is the youngest governor in the U.S. and has stormed into office over the past few months by passing ethics reforms and tax cuts, is appearing tomorrow at a press availability in New Orleans with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain.

And the governor told me that tonight he is meeting with the Arizona senator in the Big Easy.

After an event this afternoon in Shreveport to talk about increased funding for crime labs, the first question from the local press here was about the speculation that Mr. McCain will choose Mr. Jindal as his running mate.

"I've got the job that I want," Mr. Jindal said told the reporters. "I told the voters that this is a historic time for the people of Louisiana. We’re not going to get the chance to make these changes again."

"We did it with ethics reform. We did it with tax cuts. I want to be here to continue the reforms that are so necessary so that our kids don't have to leave home to pursue their dreams. I've got the job I want, so I'm flattered, but I'm exactly where I need to be," the governor said.

I told the governor during an exclusive interview this afternoon (a full profile will appear in a few days in The Washington Times' print edition) that his appearance on the Jay Leno show next Monday also won't help put to rest the rumor mill.

But Mr. Jindal said that Mr. Leno's producers invited him on months ago, prior to the writer's strike, and that because of the work stoppage the appearance got pushed back.

Here's video from today's event:

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times