Gov. Bobby Jindal is expected to announce he is running for president shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. This decision has been months -- if not years -- in the making.

Jindal has been traveling outside the state to early presidential primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina more frequently. Last month, Jindal announced he had formed a presidential exploratory committee, an all-but-sure sign that he is running in 2016.

Jindal's gubernatorial staff has begun moving over to his campaign operations. The governor chief-of-staff Kyle Plotkin resigned abruptly from state government last Friday to work for the presidential campaign.

The following are a few things you can expect at Jindal's announcement today.

Supriya Jindal, Archie Manning and Gov. Mike Foster will be featured.

Jindal's wife, Supriya, is scheduled to give the introduction for her husband around 4 p.m. A chemical engineer by training, Supriya has been active in charity work -- mostly around education issues -- while her husband has been governor. But she doesn't give speeches to very large crowds too often. It will be interesting to see what she says.

The Jindal campaign says videos featuring former Gov. Mike Foster and Archie Manning will also be played during the announcement. Foster is responsible for getting Jindal started in politics. He hired the governor to run Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals in the late 1990s when Jindal was just 24 years-old.

Jindal will tout economic successes, government reductions in campaign.

Jindal's official pitch for the presidency will largely focus on Louisiana's economic successes as well as reductions he has made to state government workforce.

The governor's talking points will include positive spin on the state's fast job growth during his two terms in office, (though some experts say the Jindal administration overstates what those job numbers mean.) He will also emphasize the cuts made to state government -- including the 30,000 state jobs he eliminated.

This isn't necessarily a new message for Jindal. The governor has spent years emphasizing his job creation and government cutting record. As an official presidential candidate though, Jindal's political stump speech is expected to get more refined.

The event is taking place in Jindal's old congressional district.

The governor is making his presidential announcement at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, a location in his old congressional district.

The actual Jindal presidential campaign is expected to be based in Baton Rouge. A location hasn't been chosen yet, but staff assumes it will be somewhere downtown.

Since the campaign will be "lean" -- Jindal doesn't have as much money as someone like Jeb Bush -- no one should expect a large staff to be located in Louisiana. Most campaign workers will be on the road with the governor, or working on the ground in a state like Iowa.

The governor will be a 'back of the pack' presidential candidate.

Jindal may be spending a lot of time in presidential primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but he still is performing very poorly in the polls.

In a survey of likely Iowa caucus goers last month, Jindal placed 14th out of 16 potential GOP candidates. Unless he makes it into the top 10 field, it's likely he will be left out of some televised debates.

Jindal has repeatedly said he is not worried about his low poll numbers. When he first ran for elected office in Louisiana, he also didn't poll very well. There are several months to go until the presidential primary season heats up, and the GOP field of candidates is still wide open, according to his campaign.

Jindal plans to focus on Iowa caucuses in his presidential campaign.

The Jindal campaign is placing an emphasis on Iowa, at least at first. The governor has been courting conservative Christian voters for months, who tend to be more of a factor in the Iowa caucuses than the New Hampshire primary. The Jindal campaign has hired staff to work in both states, but expect the governor to spend more of his time in Iowa.

. . . . . .



Julia O'Donoghue is a state politics reporter based in Baton Rouge. She can be reached at jodonoghue@nola.com or on Twitter at @jsodonoghue. Please consider following us on Facebook at NOLA.com and NOLA.com-Baton Rouge.