Martin O'Malley Versus Bobby Jindal A quick study in contrast. Martin O'Malley, the Democratic governor of Maryland, and Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, are both entangled in the ridiculously early 2016 speculation. Mr. O'Malley is pretty clearly trying to appeal to the base of the Democratic Party, and Mr. Jindal to the base of the Republican Party (i.e. people who vote in primaries). Mr. O'Malley is checking off legislative accomplishments. A Bloomberg article on Mr. O'Malley notes that he "passed some of the country's strictest gun controls, repealed the death penalty, crafted an offshore wind project and raised gas taxes to pay for transportation improvements." He also helped pass same-sex marriage. Now he's bragging about his liberal approach. "If you needed to put a bumper-sticker label to it," he told Bloomberg, "I suppose you could call us the performance-driven progressives." Mr. Jindal, meanwhile, is scrapping legislative plans. On Monday he had to abandon his proposal to eliminate the state's income and corporate taxes in favor of a statewide tax on sales and business services. Grover Norquist praised it as "the boldest, most pro-growth state tax reform in U.S. history." But Louisiana didn't see it that way. An article in Talking Points Memo explains that only 27 percent of Louisiana voters supported the plan versus 63 percent opposed. Religious leaders, advocates for the poor and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry came out against it. Mr. Jindal's overall approval rating plummeted, too, from 60 percent a year ago to 38 percent last week. In prepared remarks addressed to the state legislature, he conceded that his tax plan couldn't pass, without really conceding that his tax plan was a bad idea: "[H]ere is what I've heard from you and from the people of Louisiana - yes, we do want to get rid of the income tax, but governor you're moving too fast and we aren't sure that your plan is the best way to do it."