Powerline’s John Hinderaker has an interesting report on Pawlenty today. He writes:
On Wednesday, I was part of a group that heard Minnesota’s Governor Tim Pawlenty talk about his current battles with the Democrat-controlled Minnesota legislature; Pawlenty, like Horatius at the bridge, is all that stands between Minnesotans and a massive tax increase. But that was only the beginning: Pawlenty went on to lay out his vision for Minnesota with respect to some of the big issues of the day–the economy, education and health care. With few exceptions, his observations and prescriptions could easily be adapted to the national stage.
It was a masterful performance. Pawlenty is a conservative with a disarmingly moderate style. He is smart, articulate, youthful, energetic and likable. He is, to boot, one of the funniest storytellers in American politics. When he had finished, the question in my mind was: who in American politics is better? The only name that came to mind was Bill Clinton, but thankfully he’s retired. Among Republicans, only Mitt Romney comes close. But Pawlenty communicates better with a wider range of people.
Around the country, Republicans are looking toward 2012. It is very early, obviously, but potential candidates are already evaluating whether to enter the race. Today’s landscape is reminiscent of 1989-90. At that time, Democrats were reeling from three straight devastating Presidential defeats. The first President Bush was riding high in the polls and many thought he would be unbeatable in 1992. Some prominent Democrats, like the overrated Mario Cuomo, decided to sit out the race, leaving it to a lesser-known filed. But one of that group, Bill Clinton, turned out to be a political genius, and in the event, the Democratic nomination was very much worth having….
Much will happen between now and 2011, when the Presidential race gets underway in earnest, and events as yet unknown will shape the race in ways we cannot foresee. But here’s a guess: when the dust settles, Governor Pawlenty will be a top contender for the Republican nomination. And another one: the Republican nomination in 2012, like the Democratic nomination in 1992, will turn out to be very much worth having.
Read the whole thing.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Pawlenty is definitely going to run, and it will be fascinating to watch him. My guess is that he will have the most thoughtful, most ideas-filled campaign of all the 2012 candidates. He’s probably the best so-con out there, he can express the values without being divisive or anti-intellectual.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:16 am
People like Pawlenty are why Palin and Huck are not really top contenders. They may be at the moment, but when the race and the debates start, Pawlenty, Sanford and Jindal are going to be more competitive with Romney than P or H. These are the guys I worry about.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Matthew, tell your guy to get his butt in gear and start getting a large cult following. I’m still a Romney supporter, but I am starting to think that the only way the GOP wins is if they get behind someone like Pawlenty. It’s probably the only way that mac, MWS, and I would vote for the same guy.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:42 am
If Pawlenty runs and for some reason drops out early maybe he can be convinced to challenge Sen. Kloubachar?
May 8th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Sean,
My guess is that Klobuchar would win that race easily and Pawlenty would be hesitant to challenge her given her popularity in the state.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am
The question is not if he will run but when. I bet he keeps his powder
dry until 2016.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Yeah, Pawlenty would be massacred by Klobuchar. Any Republican would. We ought to focus on defeating Franken in 6 years, if we’re looking to target Minnesota. Klobuchar is there for life.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:37 am
TPaw is a lot better than I thought, but he’s not as good as Huck.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I thought Pawlenty’s poll numbers in the state had been dropping a lot lately? Anyone know why?
May 8th, 2009 at 10:48 am
American,
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/05/it-aint-easy-being-governor.html
May 8th, 2009 at 10:51 am
“My guess is that Klobuchar would win that race easily and Pawlenty would be hesitant to challenge her given her popularity in the state.” Unfortunately, that is a good point.
“TPaw is a lot better than I thought, but he’s not as good as Huck.” I guess of us in the Big 3 all agree that Mr. Pawlenty would be not a bad choice as our back up choice. The only thing being, if he does not get a good camp together, people will either stick with one of the Big 3 or look beyond the Big 4.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:54 am
should be: some of us.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:13 am
TPaw 2012!
We’ve forgotten another virtue of his – he’s fresh on the national stage. No old baggage or grudges to get over.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:27 am
DanL,
“It’s probably the only way that mac, MWS, and I would vote for the same guy.”
To really make your point, Metro likes him too.
I think it may be the only thing in the world Metro and I agree on, unless he likes cookie dough ice cream, of course.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:29 am
American,
That’s happening to pretty much every governor in the country. The economy stinks, and most of them (unlike the federal government) can’t just throw tons of money at the people. Most of them have to balance the budget. So with tax revenue plummeting, that means hiking taxes/fees, or cutting spending.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:30 am
….but they can’t finance half of their spending on the taxpayers’ credit card like your man Barry.
May 8th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
There is one issue that I cannot come to grips with when it comes to Pawlenty and it may speak volumes about him. It’s the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada. In principle, Minnesota has backdoor price controls which is troublesome but in practice, it’s just immoral because the only reason why Canada can offer such a program is through increased prices on prescription meds in America. By allowing Minnesotans to then import these drugs back to America, they are stealing from everyone else in America by forcing Americans to pay for a Minnesota surcharge on their meds and furthermore secondary surcharges if they’re on medicaid/medicare.
Now, one could argue that Pawlenty is simply supporting a policy thats impossible to oppose given its popularity in MN, but considering how terrible this policy is, thats showing poorer backbone than I’ve seen on any issue from any other politician.
Re-importation of Prescription Drugs is an unforgivable policy to support. It’s a shame because otherwise, I’m a huge fan of Pawlenty.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Steve,
I don’t think the Pharmies are actually losing money on their meds in Canada, or I doubt they’d sell them. That would be a bad business model. They might break even and use them to achieve economies of scale, but I seriously doubt they would sell them at a loss.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Is Pawlenty for cap and trade? I know he’s a big proponent of alternative energy mandates.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Martha,
Unfortunately, yes. But unlike Romney, he did not sign his state up for a cap-and-trade initiative.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
MWS. Yeah, Romney is bad on cap and trade. But so is most everyone, including Palin. Romney keeps saying he only supports it if the rest of the world follows along. What’s up with that? It’s either right or wrong, he should say so.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Martha I asked about Pawlenty’s position on cap and trade the other day and Matthew said he wasn’t for it. Cap and Trade is a deal breaker for me with any candidate.
May 8th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Martha,
#21. You just gained a bunch of respect points from me….
And now your life is complete.