Tim Pawlenty !
I agree with you and Hugh Hewitt. Pawlenty is solid. The question I have, is 2008 too soon for Pawlenty?
Well, he could run without incident. He'd be in his 6th year as Governor (same with W). He's also been presiding over MN's realignment to the GOP (or rather, return to its original pre-Humphreyan GOP roots), also a positive for him. He'll also be a break from the GOP South & West dominance, which means he is guaranteed to hold those areas in a general contest while building support on those trickier upper midwest (Rust Belt) states. MN certainly now has an embarrassment of GOP riches all the way down to the lowest levels (far more so even than down here in my own state of TN, which has almost absent GOP leadership - and I include Frist in that assessment, he's been a decided disappointment as Majority Leader), and it's time to mine it for national leaders.
No, it isn't. By 2008, assuming he's reelected, Pawlenty will have been governor of MN for six years. In 2000, GWB had been governor of Texas for six years.