GOP contender Tim Pawlenty was on campus yesterday at an event hosted by Family Leader, a state-wide social conservative advocacy group. Newsflash: 2012 is definitely off in earnest.
Pro: When you think of most politicians the persona that comes to mind is aggressive, gritty and loud. Not Governor Pawlenty. He’s gentle, soft spoken and almost shy. Going by recent polls, Pawlenty remains largely anonymous among the crowd of presidential wannabes. But the two term governor from Minnesota could potentially turn the Republican nomination on its head. He’s fiscally conservative in a way Huckabee isn’t, matches Sarah Palin on social conservatism and contrasts Mitt Romney’s elitism. Include the fact that he’s folksy, humble and completely unpretentious and it’s easy to see why John Mccain almost chose him as VP in ’08.
That’s not all. Governor Pawlenty has deep connections to a voting bloc that propelled one W Bush to the White House years ago: the Evangelical base. After 2008, analysts pointed to McCain’s testy relationship with the Christian base as one reason for his electoral defeat. For Mr. Pawlenty there will be no such animosities. For a Republican electorate wary of Palin, cold to Romney and still sizing up Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty may be Obama’s unlikely challenger in 2012.
Con: Pawlenty may be your perfect gentleman but lacks Obama’s charm, can’t feign Palin’s feistiness and wields not McCain style altruism. The fact that he slipped in and out of campus without many noticing demonstrates he lacks the buzz needed to attract sizeable in a national election. Recent Rasmussen polls show him lagging in the single digits trailing Romney, Huckabee and Palin. Even the polarizing Gingrich is polling better. My feeling is that Pawlenty might end up as an “also run” but would be top choice for VP irrespective of who wins the nomination.
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