Ohhhh so THAT'S what happened...

Back on November 6th, a semi-secret meeting took place among conservative leadership in Virginia. The meeting included high-profile Republicans such as L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Al Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator; longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie and conservative pollster Kellyanne Conway.

Their goal was to determine how best to fight the incoming Obama Administration and to refocus the Conservative ship on a path to reclaim power.

One particularly interesting outcome was this:

The participants generally agreed that new national conservative political leaders will emerge from the major public-policy battles that they anticipate.

Conway said conservatives will be looking for the candidates and elected officials who fit the movement’s “job description” – meaning that they are with the movement on the core issues at stake in these battles and are in the thick of the action when those battles begin.

So we have a general idea of what was discussed. But we don't know the strategy or tactics behind it.

Well, today's Washington Post article discussing Gov. Bobby Jindal's trip to Iowa may have given us a clue:

"The anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist believes, too, that Jindal is a certainty to occupy the White House, and conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh has described him as 'the next Ronald Reagan.'

'If anything, McCain's candidacy suggests that age is not always a positive -- and sometimes is a negative,' Norquist says. 'As Republicans, you have a real problem now with younger voters and immigrants. If you were going to central casting for a candidate to deal with all that, who do you have? Jindal. He is young, and he looks young. . . . He's a great communicator. And his record is that he's sharp and quick with policy.'"

So we know that attendees at this meeting were looking for someone "new". And now we have a very positive article about his first appearance in Iowa, one of the meeting attendees talking up the young Jindal as the Party's next Reagan, and other decisionmakers identifying him as the next guy that can bring a smile to every Republican face.

Convenient.

It's a good thing they're right.