The most viral headline this year with the Louisiana governor’s name in it was published in The Onion: “Bobby Jindal Not Sure He Willing To Put Family Through 2-Month Presidential Campaign.”

The article on the satiric news site — which included fictional quotes from Jindal fretting about how his young kids would cope with having a dad “spend dozens of days running for president” — was perfectly tuned to the sniggers and skepticism that pervade the political world when it comes to Jindal’s 2016 prospects. When the article was published in January, several reporters (including this one) forwarded the link to the governor’s advisers in hopes of goading them into responding. The strategists laughed it off at the time, joking that at least expectations were low.

Now, Jindal’s small team of campaign aides and operatives is embarking on a plan to confound those expectations and transform their candidate from a punchline into a president. When he officially announces his bid for the Republican nomination here Wednesday evening, Jindal will be launching a campaign with little money, virtually no grassroots organization, and a principal who sits at around 1% in national polls. The most generous pundits call him an “underdog.” The less generous ones call him a “dumbed-down” self-parody who “will never catch fire.”