Political Hay
On the Road with Tim Pawlenty
The Minnesota governor may want to ride all the way to the White House.
The year 2012 may seem far away but politicos know the next presidential election cycle comes all too fast. No one is embracing this more than Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty who, in recent weeks, has made a beeline for the national stage again, most recently at the Republican National Committee meeting in San Diego.
Pawlenty first became known to the country last year when his name landed on the designated “shortlist” for John McCain’s VP pick. But it wasn’t meant to be. A senior staffer muttered to me begrudgingly at the Republican National Convention on the eve of Sarah Palin’s memorable speech: “He wanted a woman. He got one.”
Oh, how the campaign of change changed things. Less than a year after her run for Vice President, Palin stepped down from her spot as Alaska’s spunky Governor, citing family and work difficulties. Pawlenty, on cue, stepped up. Recently the South St. Paul native said he would forgo the use of his worn veto pen for a third term, leaving his calendar and political future wide open. Since then, he’s been traveling the country from Washington, D.C. to Aspen, Colorado, talking about everything from healthcare to education. Last week he was elected vice-chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, a spot which will do double-duty for Pawlenty’s future. While he stumps for the nearly 40 GOP campaigns, he gets free media and a chance to bolster his image while testing the waters.
Though Pawlenty’s actions are paving the way — or at least leaving an opening — for a run for president, some pundits are already brushing him off because he’s too “vanilla” to occupy such a position. Couple this with his relative anonymity, and some doubt the hockey-playing, marathon-running son of a truck driver has what it takes to build rapport with an already weary GOP, much less undecided voters.
Despite his lack of magnetism, his track record as a conservative governor in a purple state is impressive. At the end of this last legislative session, Pawlenty demanded his Democrat-controlled legislature balance the budget or he would. Not only had Democrats passed budget bills that left a $3 billion gap in income and expenditures, but they wanted to increase taxes on their fellow Minnesotans on everything from alcohol and music downloads, including income taxes for every bracket.
Pawlenty outwitted his big-spending legislators and exercised an obscure law on the books that enabled him to remove any state spending for which funding doesn’t exist. In Pawlenty’s last major achievement as governor, he balanced the budget and finally removed Minnesota from the dreaded list of top ten most highly-taxed states. Talk about going out with a bang.
In fact, a recent SurveyUSA poll said 34% of Minnesotans now identify themselves as Republicans, the largest percentage since 2005, where 35% did. While some credit the shift to Obama’s disastrous healthcare plan, it makes as much sense that after two terms of Tim Pawlenty, his constituents finally see the advantage of conservative ideals put into action.
Pawlenty’s already touting his achievements and taking his candid conservatism on the road. He recently told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Obama was “scamming the American people” with his healthcare plan. In this op-ed in the Washington Post last week, Pawlenty picked apart the President’s plan and encouraged Democrats in Congress to look to the way he reformed healthcare the conservative way in Minnesota. Such straight talk is customary to the Minnesotans he represents; Pawlenty is more Everyman than elitist. Such unpretentious manners may prove appealing to some audiences, especially by 2012, when the sparkling, uber-exclusivity of Obama’s image cannot rescue his failing policies.
Is Pawlenty conservative enough? While he tends to hold a tough line on taxes, he shows on a softer side on issues like mass transit, education, and the environment (especially global warming). He favored a 75-cent cigarette tax — he claimed, with the agreement of the Minnesota court system, that it was a “user fee” — and even advocated a statewide smoking ban. And Pawlenty overrode his normal free-market tendencies to support the importation of price-controlled prescription drugs from Canada.
But Pawlenty is clearly going for a test drive on the road to the White House. Republicans looking for an economic and social conservative who can win over Democratic voters might decide to kick the tires too.
About the Author
Nicole Russell writes from Northern Virginia.
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Rocco| 8.11.09 @ 6:44AM
Pawlenty looks pretty good from the outside, but I hope he doesn't implode like Sanford did.
Richard Baker| 8.11.09 @ 7:31AM
Please. No more politicians from Minnesota. Anything but that.
Michael L. Hauschild| 8.11.09 @ 8:28AM
"leaving his calendar and political future wide open. Since then, he’s been traveling the country from Washington, D.C. to Aspen, Colorado."
So did Palin, but she did it honestly. Who actually is showing concern for their constituents?
louis tully| 8.11.09 @ 8:59AM
A new generation RIN O. No thanks.
G. A. Kevis| 8.11.09 @ 9:00AM
Presidential timber?
Could not use the powers of governorship
to cleanse the process of a senate race
farce.
Don't need a RINO seeking highest office.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.11.09 @ 9:27AM
I bought Jim Demint's book. It isn't here yet, but I am going to be looking real hard at him.
Pingback| 8.11.09 @ 9:51AM
TPaw's Road to 2012 - Real Clear Politics – TIME.com links to this page.
loulou| 8.11.09 @ 9:57AM
Is this the same Pawlenty whose passivity allowed Al Franken to steal the election from Norm Coleman?
No thank you--Pawlenty is a RINO. I will not support him under any circumstances.
Shoneen| 8.11.09 @ 10:32AM
No chance that an apostate Catholic can win essential Reagan Democrat votes in 2012 - unless he is struck by another bolt of lightning on the road to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Wankel| 8.11.09 @ 11:24AM
"Despite his lack of magnetism" is an understatement. He is about as "magnetic" as a RINO made of balsa wood.
randy| 8.11.09 @ 11:37AM
That was great Wankel, could not have said it better. NO MO RINOs!
JSK| 8.11.09 @ 12:04PM
So, what EXACTLY was Pawlenty supposed to do in the whole Coleman-Franken legal case? Could someone (who is informed) please explain that to me in a coherent way? I see no evidence that Pawlenty is a RINO. What I see is a successful governor in a blue state who has been able to keep taxes down and the budget balanced.
Jerry| 8.11.09 @ 1:04PM
Pawlenty didn't defund much of anything. He's just putting off expenditures to the next budget cycle, leave a California-sized deficit for Minnesota.
But to hear him talk, he's the Paul Bunyan of budgets. He's more like Johnny Appleseed, planting the seeds of future spending.
And keep in mind that Pawlenty-appointed judges picked Al Franken over Norm Coleman, and that election certificate hanging on "Senator" Franken's office wall is signed by Tim Pawlenty.
Think about that when you consider who his SCOTUS picks would be.
Bo Darville| 8.11.09 @ 1:15PM
Pawlenty's no RINO. Listen to what the lefties up here in Minnesota say about him.
Al Adab| 8.11.09 @ 2:14PM
We must avoid buying into the Left's concept that its "The Man" who matters more than the principle. If we find candidates who adhere to Constitutional Government, great, but lets not spend our time looking at names first.
Certainly we need people recognizable, but no man on a white horse for me. That is how we got into this mess. Follow the leader? No thanks.
TX Big Dog| 8.11.09 @ 2:17PM
Let it be clear that Mr. Pawlenty, a McCain stooge, could not even keep his state from screwing up the senate election and allowed the democrats to run over the truly elected senator, not Franken.
I would never in a million years vote for this guy as you never heard a word from him when the sebate race was in the courts. Stooge with no balls.
JimmyMac| 8.11.09 @ 4:16PM
No way. No Pawlenty, no McCain, no Lindsey Graham, no Arnold, no more "moderates" and no more RINOs. Period.
americanLatina| 8.11.09 @ 5:00PM
I met him at the convention. Nice guy. Had good things to say.
Not ready.
Al Franken mess. That state needed strong leadership and he could not do it.
emo| 8.11.09 @ 6:45PM
No one has bothered to answer JSK's question. Wha twas Pawlenty suppose to do exactly to keep Franken from stealing the Senate race? What would you have done? And Yes, Pawlenty appointed judges favored Franken. Guess what Reagan appointed SC Justice's supported abortion in 1992's Casey decision. Guess Reagan was a RINO
PCP Smoker| 8.11.09 @ 8:17PM
I pray to God that this creep decides to stay in MN. The last thing an already weak GOP needs is another green, weak republican who seeks to "work together with democrats and republicans to address the tough issues ..blah, blah, blah. "
No more Doles, no more Bushes- including Jeb, no more Romney and his socialist healthcare, and no more McCains.
PCP Smoker| 8.11.09 @ 8:20PM
I don't normally comment on others but Wankel's "He is about as "magnetic" as a RINO made of balsa wood." is a great f'ing line. I'm stealing brother.
Cpm| 8.11.09 @ 9:17PM
Pawlenty is as exciting as drying paint, Dan Quayle redux. And he supports ID. Not my vote, no sir..
GOP Fan| 8.11.09 @ 9:43PM
He will run strong in Iowa.
PapaHans| 8.12.09 @ 4:15AM
Pawlenty is no RINO. He's a smug, arrogant, vicious little fascist punk, and for those reasons should be on the very short-list to run for president for the "gene-pool needs a little chlorine" crowd on the right. He's know in our family as "Little, eensey, teensey, shiney, tiny, teflon Timmie", and it's not a complement. By any reasonable definition, he's a total goddamn failure. Barely elected twice, the first with 40% of the vote in a three-way race, the second by 20,000 votes in an eleventh hour "victory", Pawlenty failed to make any structural changes during the last budget crisis and lost Minnesota its; triple-A bond rating. He did the same thing this time. He lost the MN House and Senate to the DFL, (Democratic Farm-Labor party for those of you not priveledged to live in the best state in the union, not opinion, fact), pissed away massive budget surpluses, appointed religiously insane fanatics like a bible-harpy named Yecke, appropriately name, to be head of education until the Dem's booted her sorry ass out, and like all republicans, not only did the buck, for anything, not stop with him, it didn't even hover within shouting distance.
Please God, please, please, please run a Pawlenty-Palin ticket. Please, please, please.
Scott Greenlee| 8.12.09 @ 10:03AM
Having met Governor Pawlenty on several occasions I assure you that he is NO RINO. He is a strong fiscal conservative who has been successful in a blue state. He abided by the law during the Franken mess, and unfortunately the courts did not. The "green" he supports is rooted in market-based solutions to problems that exist. Governor Pawlenty is for sure an early front runner as he should be. He would be a solid President - much better than what we have now.
Lance | 8.12.09 @ 11:10AM
Republicans who want to take back this country in 2012, please look at a 2008 electoral map! We have to get competative in the industrial Midwest fast. Moving from the Minnesota border through Ohio, we have to start winning those states back. If we don't, there is no path for any Republican to the White House. Pawlenty has a better shot than anyone in the potential field to win those states and you all need to seriously consider supporting this conservative Midwestern Republican for president in 2012.
simon templar| 8.12.09 @ 12:18PM
For the smart mouthed dems: keep doing what your doing and republicans will breeze right back into power. Your far left communist agenda will be your end. For conservatives: stop the infighting, promote clear and decisive conservative vision, principles and SOLUTIONS and we can take back this country. Educate the public and counterbalance the lies and propaganda that the media and universitys have spread. Do this and you can save America.
Echo| 8.12.09 @ 3:11PM
Sounds like he bases anti-liberty policies on junk science: smoking bans and AGW. Not for me.
Klarice| 8.13.09 @ 3:39AM
Let me assure you that T-Paw is not even close to being a RINO. He is a strong advocate of conservative common sense solutions to many of today's issues. As a Minnesotan, let me tell you about the Coleman-Franken race. Minnesota election law is very clear, and the "power" is in the Sec. of State's hands, not the Governor's. The current Sec. is a Democrat. Enough said. Also, thanks to the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota leads the nation in awareness of health issues. The smoking restrictions in public places that he signed had bipartisan support and huge majorities in both house and senate. That is just two examples of digging a little deeper for the substance to get the true picture.
Valerie| 8.13.09 @ 12:01PM
as a native, CONSERVATIVE Minnesotan who has voted for Pawlenty twice, I have to say that I rather like the man as a governor. He is very pro-family, he is pro-life and he is a fiscal conservative. Some of the other things (ethanol, and the prescription drug thing) I believe he supported in order to help Minnesotans (good intentions, although misguided). I was proud of the way he handled the 2009 budget issue. The DFL-led MN Senate wanted to crush him and make him raise taxes and they did not have the necessary support to do so. They wasted the entire legislative session and did nothing to balance the budget. TPaw grabbed the rug right out from underneath them and shocked the living daylights out of them. It was great to see!
With that said, I don't think I would vote for him as President. Even though I like him, I don't think he has what it takes to be president.
bill| 8.15.09 @ 10:53AM
In addition to supporting cap and trade, Pawlenty was a big backer of McCain's immigration reforms. I think that would kill him with conservatives.
He's very critical of plans that have been put forth to solve the problem of the uninsured, but he has done nothing in two terms as governor of Minnesota to cover the nearly half-million uninsured in that state.
Plus, he is leaving a huge structural deficit that legislators and the next governor will have to solve after Pawlenty leaves office. Lots of red ink. Not a propitious platform on which to base a national candidacy.
Skip| 8.17.09 @ 8:49AM
Conservative by Minnesota standards. RINO otherwise.
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