BATON ROUGE - Bobby Jindal publicly congratulated Gov.-elect Kathleen Blanco on Sunday in a press conference where he offered to assist in her transition but not to work in her administration.

Jindal, who lost the governor's race Saturday by 54,567 votes in unofficial returns, said he called Blanco twice Saturday night, the second time to congratulate her and her husband, Raymond "Coach" Blanco.

He said he didn't mention her in his fairly brief post-election remarks to his supporters because "I wanted last night to be Kathleen's night."

He said he has no regrets about the way he ran his campaign even though he lost, "It's a good day for Louisiana" with Blanco as the future governor. He encouraged his supporters to work with the new governor-elect because "in my mind, Kathleen Blanco is going to be good for all of us."

Several political analysts said Jindal lost the race because he did not counter Blanco's ads criticizing his management of the Department of Health and Hospitals and cuts to services that were made during his term as DHH secretary. They said ads quoting what other people said about Blanco's comments were insufficient.

"I wanted to run a positive, issues-oriented campaign," Jindal said. "If I had it to do again, I'd do the exact same thing. I have no regrets."

U.S. Rep. Bob Livingston said he would have responded with ads because "when somebody goes on the attack, you've got to respond to it."

Jindal said that considering where he was when the campaign started, he's proud of being able to have come so close to being elected.

"I'm honored that 48 to 49 percent of the people in this state said 'I want Bobby Jindal to be my next governor,'" he said. "When we first started, we were just an asterisk" in the polls.

U.S. Rep. David Vitter said he found Jindal's defeat "very, very disappointing and frustrating." He said he was particularly surprised at the margin of victory for Blanco.

Jindal said he hasn't had much time to think about his future during the campaign. He had not planned to lose. Asked if he would consider a post in the Blanco administration, he said "It's extremely unlikely that I'd take any kind of job with her" but he's willing to help her set up her administration.

"Louisiana's our home," he said. "This is where we want to raise our family."

Asked about possibly running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by U.S. Sen. John Breaux, who has hinted that he may step down next year, Jindal said "that's the last thing on my mind at this point.

"I want to talk to my family, I want to pray about whatever I do next," he said. "I certainly do believe that when God closes one door, he opens another. The campaign is over. It's time to look forward."