He's the Governor of Louisiana, and was McCain's #1 choice for a running mate, but he wanted to stay governor, so McCain chose Palin.
He gave a national speech a while back and completely bombed it, after the Democratic convention I think, but he is not known for giving speeches. He kinda stands there and talks twice as fast as he should about everything imaginable...
Just proves how good a job he does since there are so many people backing him if he should choose to run for the presidency.