Pawlenty's whirlwind tour

Posted at 5:24 PM on June 5, 2009 by Tom Scheck (3 Comments)

AP takes a look at who Gov. Pawlenty has been talking with during his visit to Washington D.C. Meanwhile, The Fix ranks Gov. Pawlenty #7 in its Top GOP leaders:

7. Tim Pawlenty: Pawlenty's decision not to run for a third term allows him the freedom and the time he will need to raise his national profile and roll out a series of big ideas designed to position himself as the populist voice in the 2012 field. (Pawlenty makes the Line rather than Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, another prominent populist, because of Daniels' repeated pledges to never run for another office.) Pawlenty is already getting after it -- doing a series of media interviews with national outlets and headlining a College Republican convention in D.C. tonight. And, we hear Pawlenty will be at an informal happy hour with lots of uncommitted GOP operatives tonight as well. (Previous ranking: N/A)

Comments (3)

designed to position himself as the populist voice in the 2012 field. (Pawlenty makes the Line rather than Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, another prominent populist

He keeps using that word. I don't think it means what he thinks it means...

Posted by Chris | June 6, 2009 12:42 PM

Populist? Try liar, hypocrite, weasel, extremist, or jerk.

Posted by Ginny | June 7, 2009 11:10 AM

I'm not sure the media knows what the word "populist" means, either. If they did, they wouldn't use it to describe poltiicians who take money from special interests.

In any case--and please correct me if I'm wrong--isn't Pawlenty bailing on the Governors' mansion because the state will be pretty much broke by the time the election comes up again? He ever hopes to appear on a presidential ticket, he's got to air-lift himself out of Minnesota government before it goes broke, right?

If he's still Governor when the big fat bill for his terms of administration comes due, he doesn't have a hope in hell of getting nominated for the presidency, right? So he's dashing out before they cut off the state's credit, right?

That's classic GOP leadership style. Lead the troops into the swamp, and when they start to go under, sing out: "Farewell, troops!"

Posted by Bill Prendergast | June 7, 2009 11:11 AM

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