Pawlenty I tended to put in the same category as Mitch Daniels for non-starters. He presided over a disastrous decline of GOP fortunes in the state (essentially lost the MN House majority and near-tie in the Senate), he didn’t forcefully contest the judicial and DFLer theft of the Senate seat for Frankenstein. He nearly lost reelection in ‘06 (winning only after some stupid gaffe by the DFL running mate). He’s tried to have it both ways on TARP. He just came off as a big squish. Another problem, too, is that I sincerly doubt he’d even carry MN in a Presidential race were he to be nominated. That was one of the reasons I opposed him as a VP candidate in ‘08, as he would have brought nothing to the ticket. Put it all down to a gut feeling I have about him that just rubs me the wrong way. Is he as bad as Huckster or Slick Willard ? No. But that’s like saying getting the clap is better than getting AIDS.
WOW! “Ask and ye shall receive.”
Thank you for the info, Fieldmarshal; it puts TP and his candidacy into perspective.
“He just came off as a big squish.” Yep.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/03/pawlenty_will_c.html?p1=News_links