Since Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty cut his mullet in the spring, does this mean that he wants to be a serious contender for John McCain's number two slot? He comes across on TV as friendly even when he is taking a verbal shot at Barack Obama.
Minnesota GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty has many good things going for him now. He has been elected governor twice in a state where Republicans have had trouble winning recently on a presidential level. He isn't afraid to make sharp rebukes against Barack Obama:
''I think Barack Obama's book 'The Audacity of Hope' perhaps should be retitled 'The Audacity of Hypocrisy.'
Here is a short video clip from Sunday, June 29, 2008 on ABC's ''This Week With George Stephanopoulos'' show where Pawlenty praises McCain by putting his principles over what the Republican Party may want and how it contrasts with Barack Obama never taking on the Democratic Party:
However, there has been some criticism regarding Pawlenty. Even some Republicans have said that he comes up with bold ideas but doesn't follow through on them or caves when he receives opposition.
''When Pawlenty helped engineer an accord this fall to reduce the Midwest's future greenhouse gas emissions, state Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, called it ''feel-good politics'' that ''did nothing for the environment.''
Former Republican Governor Arne Carlson criticized Pawlenty for proposing environmental changes that wouldn't take effect until 2020. It wouldn't require anyone to sacrifice now but it looks good to the political press if you're a young politician who wants to get nationally known and make headlines for himself.
Brian McClung is Pawlenty's communications director and he drew up an 83-point checklist of accomplishments in December 2007. He cites this as a major achievement:
''Closing a $4.5-billion 2003-04 budget deficit without tax increases and establishing a ''State Achievement Ribbon.''
Pawlenty has backtracked on some issues. When Minnesota's I-35 bridge collapsed last summer, Pawlenty tried to push the Legislature for gas tax increases to pay for needed repairs to other bridges. However, economic conservatives protested and he quickly relented on it. He vetoed legislation to increase the gas tax this year but the Legislature overrode his veto. This is the first time in six years that the Minnesota Legislature overrode Governor Pawlenty's veto. The Legislature is dominated by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is Minnesota's version of the Democratic Party.
Like most politicians, Pawlenty favors initiatives that he believes will benefit him politically and opposes policies which he believes will hurt him. State Senator Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul) has been a longtime environmental activist. She states that Pawlenty tried to water down renewable-energy standards in the past and only started supporting them when he believed that the DFL's were gaining an upper hand on the issue. McClung disagrees with Anderson's characterization of the events:
''She's entitled to her opinion. The fact is, the governor proposed {renewable energy standards} in 2006 and 2007.''
Pawlenty can come up with ideas quickly. In the space of a few days in mid-November, he announced a plan to assist homeowners with foreclosures, initiated a multi-point plan to help veterans and he also helped design a Midwestern greenhouse-gas agreement.
He got credit with some people by trying to get more money from wealthy Indian tribes in 2005 to help balance the state's budget. The idea didn't work but it took courage to try it.
Although Pawlenty has been reelected twice to Minnesota's statehouse, Republicans have lost ground since he assumed the governorship. They have lost their majority in the state House and the DFL has a veto-proof majority in the state Senate.
Still, McCain might select him because the social and fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party like him and he is a young man.
