Rare public glimmerings of this could be seen during Rand Paul’s State of the Union rebuttal, billed as the official Tea Party response, which didn’t go over well with a few political hands connected to Jindal.

“[A]nd now for the rebuttal to the GOP response from 2016 Libertarian Party Nominee Rand Paul #sotu,” tweeted Brad Todd a principal at On Message Inc., a Republican media firm whose clients include Jindal (they’ve helped Paul as well, though he wasn’t a client: On Message made television ads paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee that supported Paul in his Senate race). …

“I don’t see Bobby Jindal being much of a player on Rand or Marco’s side of the field,” said one senior Republican operative associated with Paul. “Quite frankly I see him as the 2016 version of Tim Pawlenty without the Minnesota nice.”