Tim Pawlenty in 2008

Since his election to the office of Governor of Minnesota in 2002 Tim Pawlenty has skirted rumors regarding his Presidential aspirations. Following his close re-election in 2006 against fire brand Attorney General Mike Hatch, Mr. Pawlenty’s name has surfaced once again as a possible candidate for national office. It appears as though certain members of the media feel as though Mr. Pawlenty’s relationship with a certain Republican frontrunner is a bit cozy.

During this past year’s gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Pawlenty fell all but a few breaths away from a public endorsement of G.O.P. Presidential frontrunner Senator John McCain as the senator joined him on the stump. More recently, Mr. McCain crashed the Republican Governor’s Association meeting in Florida. Who was there to hand out praise and glowing remarks to the senior senator from Arizona? None other than Mr. Tim Pawlenty. In response to the glowing remarks from a man nearly thirty-years his junior Mr. McCain states “I know of no one who will make a greater contribution to the future of America than this great leader”. Could this be a budding love affair?

The idea of a McCain-Pawlenty ticket is intriguing, as well as a very practical move by the elder statesman. If elected, Mr. McCain would wrangle the title of oldest elected President from the late Ron Reagan. The current spokesman for Senate Republicans will need to balance out his senior citizen status, as well as “Washington insider” persona with a running mate who has mass appeal. A youthful Governor Pawlenty provides Mr. McCain, and to a larger extent the Republican National Committee, with a clean slate and hope for future White House retention. But are all motives in this situation created by an old war hero looking to vindicate his 2000 Presidential primary loss?

Since taking office in 2003 Mr. Pawlenty has been able to work through a Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) controlled State Senate, while fending off attacks from an Attorney General who likened himself to a pit-bull. In 2003 Mr. Pawlenty also occupied the Governor’s mansion with a State budget deficit. Currently Mr. Pawlenty will welcome a two billion dollar State surplus when he takes his oath of office for the second time. On top of his duties as Minnesota’s Chief Executive Mr. Pawlenty has also played the role of Minnesota’s Special Envoy to Iraq; having been to the Middle Eastern nation several times during his four years in office. Though in 2007 Mr. Pawlenty will find himself Minnesota’s sole Republican in high office, due to the watershed year for Democrats, he must now truly prove his abilities in across the aisle diplomacy. But what does this all mean?

It appears as though Mr. Pawlenty has been playing his cards quite close to his vest and keenly aware of the tracks he is leaving. In the next two years, if Mr. Pawlenty does not drown in a sea of a DFL controlled State Legislature he may position himself as a safe and moderate choice to head up the second slot for a Republican Presidential candidate. With St. Paul, Minnesota recently being chosen as the host for the 2008 Republican National Convention Mr. Pawlenty may be able to accept his party’s nomination for Vice-President in his boyhood hometown.