But instead of running job creation, the economy, and other kitchen table issues that Governors deal with on a regular basis (like Romney should have), he’s trying to turn himself into the “real conservative” in the race (like Romney tried and failed miserably at) by attacking Olympia Snowe, attacking Mike Huckabee on his latest clemency blow-up, and even attacking Romney on “RomneyCare.”

And though while my original excitement for Pawlenty has turned into a sense of “meh,” he appears to have picked up one key endorsement…kinda. I give you Dick Armey…

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) believes Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is standing on the “safest ground” of all the potential Republican candidates for president in 2012. “There are people vying and becoming emergent as who can be the most effective voice,” said Armey, the most prominent leader of the tea party movement through his group FreedomWorks.

“My own view is that Pawlenty is the person standing on the safest ground,” he said in a CBS News interview posted online Monday.

“He has no major disappointments behind him,” Armey said of Pawlenty. “He has the chance to create a fresh new public understanding of who he is and what he stands for. Right now, you have to put him there.”

Personally, and this is just one mans opinion as a blogger and a citizen political consultant, Tim Pawlenty should stick to what he knows because faux conservatism doesn’t impress that many people, not to mention if you’re really a capital “C” Conservative you don’t need to constantly prove it to people (like a Haley Barbour, for example).

Not to mention as long as Sarah Palin is blogging from her Facebook account, he’s never going to be the darling of the base, yet by over doing it will alienate other Republican voters who might be willing to give him a chance. He should stick to what he knows.

The rub is that if you argue against this, the media paints you as being in the pocket of big business, special interest groups, lobbyists, etc. Republicans needs someone with the background to a) call out the Democrats for what this really is, and b) explain to the American people why evil and scar “big business” making money is a good thing.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did the former recently on the always fair and balanced Fox Business Channel. So sayeth the JBdotC candidate of choice…

Liberals in the U.S. believe that profitability is wrong, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) asserted Friday afternoon. In a bit of a bizarre claim, Romney argued that liberals truly believe that a government-run economy should replace any private economy. “The liberals, in their heart believe that the private enterprise system — profitability, for instance — that those things are inefficient and wrong, and that a government-run system would be better,” Romney said in an interview on the Fox Business Network.

Romney, who made millions as a director of Bain Capital before entering politics, rejected limits on executive compensation as an infringement on freedom. “No one wants to see excessive pay. But this is a free country,” he said. “It’s simply wrong to think that government knows better.”

That covers the former. The later I’d like to see tied together with a comment Tim Pawlenty recently made, “And the next time [President Obama] address a group of young people maybe [he] should apologize for the crushing debt [he is] putting on their shoulders.” Those of you who read this blog regularly know that my “2012 ticket du joir” changes from blog post to blog post, but I have to admit, Romney/Pawlenty could be very, very strong.

Seriously though, 2009 is turning into a better year for him. He’s speaking out more and is one of the go-to guys when people are looking for a Republican response to anything Barack Obama does. Most recently, he spoke to the Values Voter Summit, the annual meeting of conservative activists.

And while he place third in an irrelevant straw poll, from all accounts he blew the attendants away with his speech. Here he is calling out Dear Leader…

The DNC put up a video or some sort of thing attacking me on this debate for various things I’ve said in recent weeks and months, and I accept the challenge. And I’ll just respond by calling out the president back tonight. And I would say – (applause) – and what I’d like to say to him is, DNC and he calls me out, I’ll call you out, call you back, and here’s my message: Stop spending the country into bankruptcy. Stop taxing us into oblivion. And the next time you address a group of young people maybe you should apologize for the crushing debt you’re putting on their shoulders.

NRO’s Mark Hemmingway had this to say aboot it…

If the DNC thinks they’re putting him in his place, they’re really just elevating his profile. Then near the end of the speech, Pawlenty told a Reagan anecdote that he capped by reciting 2 Chronicles 7:14. The entire crowd began reciting the verse along with him — it was definitely a moment. Pawlenty simply nailed his speech. Right message, right crowd, right tone, right on. That said, Pawlenty’s speech at the convention last year wasn’t the best. If Pawlenty is gearing up to run in 2012, time will tell if this speech represents him rising to the occaison or if he merely found a rare moment in the zone. Either way, after witnessing his command of the audience Friday night, people underestimate Pawlenty at their peril. On Saturday, I overheard attendees still buzzing about his speech the previous night.

You can read the entire speech for yourself here. I was starting to grow tired of the “snarky” Pawlenty who was loading is speeches with cheesy one-liners. If we get less of that T-Paw and more of the T-Paw from this weekend, ESPECIALLY the line directed towards young voters, I agree with Hemmingway’s assessment. Don’t sleep on Tim Pawlenty.

He still doesn’t have his niche though. Mitt Romney is the frontrunner and the economy expert. Newt Gingrich is the policy wonk. Sarah Palin is the darling of the conservative base. T-Paw? He’s the guy who…um…had a mullet up until last year?

That being said, he seems to be making it a point to talk aboot a serious issue most in our part regretfully don’t…edumacation. Here’s what he had to say at a recent Florida GOP fundraiser…

He also said the current education system should be dubbed “cash for flunkers,” and criticized President Obama and Democrats for abolishing a District of Columbia school-voucher program “and sending their own kids to private schools.” And he called reducing high school drop-out rates a “moral imperative” to address.

“The reason we have this never-ending demand for more government — people say give us more government transportation, give us more government housing, give us more government health care, give us more government everything — is because they can’t afford it themselves,” he said. “The reason they can’t afford it themselves is because they lack in most instances the skill or education to meaningfully access the economy of today and tomorrow.”

“We cannot be a country of just 300 million people and leave a-third of them on the bench.”

He’s not actually the only one talking aboot it. Newt Gingrich speaks on the failing edumacation system all the time, and is even going on tour with Rev. Al Sharpton (yes, that Rev. Al Sharpton) to discuss it further, but Pawlenty could be the only candidate who makes it the main focal point of a campaign. It might work.

Developing…

I find this slightly amusing, because a few months ago I was kibitzing with my token lefty friend aboot 2012 and said that it all depended on how the first two years goes for Obama as to whether we run a Ronald Regan or a Walter Mondale against him…with Romney in the Reagan role and Pawlenty as the sacrificial Mondale.

Regardless, Pawlenty is out giving speeches, and each one is being treated as his audition for the “big stage.” For example, his recent schpeil at the GOPAC conference in Chicago…

In addition, Pawlenty test drove some potential messages for his rumored presidential campaign, speaking forcefully on education reform and broadly going through a check list of some of the GOP’s stalwart issues, including national security.

“We have an educational system in the United States that isn’t cash for clunkers, it’s clash for flunkers,” he said. “This idea in this country that anyone is forced to go to a bad school is disgraceful.”

“This is the civil rights issue of our time,” he said, describing the plight of inner city schools and urging the state lawmakers in the crowd to address the lower performances of schools in some of their states more depressed areas. “It is a disgrace and it is a moral imperative…we need to rise up and fix this.”

He of course hit on the red meat issues as well, like the economy and health care (though, without a shot at Romney), as well as the usual social con sweet spots. So what does all this have to do with the price of tea in China? Everyone seems to agree that the main thing T-Paw has to do is get his name recognition up. The speeches are good, and starting a feud with Romney without him knowing is a nice touch. I’m sure they’ll be a book coming out in the next two years as well…his schtick on “Wal-Mart Republicans” would play well.

Other than that? My Romney/Sanford dream ticket has been ruined by the bottom doodling the Argentinean. And while stranger things have happened, I just can’t see anyone catching up to Romney (which I’m aware Dems thought the same thing aboot Hillary).

But Romney/Pawlenty ’12? As Drudge likes to say, DEVELOPING…

But little by little he seems to be making moves, and as people continue to look towards the GOP Governors for new leaders and new ideas, he’s one of the governors people seem to like to interview. Maybe they expect him to be one of them squishy-moderates, but when he speaks out on the “kitchen table issues” it’s always as a principled conservative, who has been applying some of those core principles to run a “blue” state.

He sat down recently with Geraghty the Indispensable to discuss the Generational Theft Act recently signed into law…

“Minnesota ranks forty-sixth in terms of getting federal spending in relation to the amount of taxes paid – for every dollar we sent in to Washington, we get about 72 cents back. We’re a major payer of the federal government’s tabs, unlike many other states that I won’t mention. I say, when you’re paying to buy the pizza, it’s okay to have a slice. Now, if you were a liberal Democratic governor and you opposed military spending, are you not going to take National Guard funding? If you were a liberal who opposed No Child Left Behind, are you going to take federal funding in education? So I’m wondering why that standard is only being applied now to conservatives…

“To use an example, in Medicaid, states pay a part of the costs, the federal government pays a part of the costs, and everyone knows the program is mathematically and demographically unsustainable. We need dramatic reform. But the federal government is about to give us a mountain of cash – but if you take the money you can’t change eligibility requirements. That ties the hands of states from enacting the reforms that that program needs…The bill includes lots and lots of education money, even through many states weren’t proposing to cut education. I had actually proposed a slight increase, under a reform proposal that would enact pay-for-performance. Now we’re getting a truckload of education money, and even the Democrats in my state wouldn’t have proposed that much spending under these economic circumstances. So the stimulus funding distorts the spending focus of the states and papers over the need to reform these programs…”

So what’s Pawlenty’s next move? Minnesota to the best of my knowledge doesn’t have term limits, so he could decide to run for re-election in 2010. It was my feeling the un-official “launch” of his Presidential campaign was going to be last November at the Republican Governors Association Conference (Charlie Crist too), but “Sarahmania” put the squash on that.

For T-Paw, I think it all depends how good 2009 is to him. There’s still the pesky matter of Norm Coleman’s senate seat to sort out. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Pawlenty book because his concept of “Sam’s Club Republicans” is one I think needs to be added to the debate of where the party is going. Other than that, whatever he can do to raise his national stature.

Maybe he can give the response to the President’s next address?

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Chris Cilliza from the Washington Post has an interesting list (with analysis from Geraghty the Indispensable) that makes a good jumping off point. Numbers one thru ten are from Cilliza, eleven and twelve are mine (just so I could make it a dirty dozen). And since his list was made prior to the nomination of our new RNC Chair, I replaced Rush Limbaugh (#8 ) with Michael Steele.

If you have any others you think should be on the list, or that I should keep an eye on, let me know…

12. Jim Tedisco (R-NY)
11. (tie) Jim DeMint/Tom Coburn
10. Rob Portman
9. Eric Cantor
8. Michael Steele
7. Mike Huckabee
6. Tim Pawlenty
5. Mark Sanford
4. Bobby Jindal
3. Mitt Romney
2. Haley Barbour
1. Sarah Palin

I would also keep an eye on Newt Gingrich, the NY duo of Rudy Giuliani and Pete King, the California duo of Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, and due to recent polls the gubernatorial candidates for New Jersey and Virginia, Christopher Christie and Robert F. McDonnell respectively.

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I believe at last count it was forty-one out of fifty states that were experiencing budget shortfalls. While some Governors (::cough::Patterson::cough) are looking to tax everything that makes life worthy living, others are looking within the Government to see what can be cut. Sarah Palin even voted against a $50,000 pay increase…for herself.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has two problems. One is budget shortfalls. The other is his state is aboot to appoint douchebag par excellence Al Franken to the U.S. Senate. He’s opted to work on the problem he has some control over. Here’s Ed Morrissey with the report:

“Our country and our state are facing historic financial challenges … and it’s going to require difficult decisions,” Pawlenty said as he announced the cuts. “Families across Minnesota are tightening their belts, and they expect government to do the same.”

To protect K-12 schools, the state’s single-largest spending item, Pawlenty cut more deeply from local government, health care and higher education – unappetizing choices, he noted, but necessary in the face of an economic situation that continues to worsen. Pawlenty described the cuts as “modest” and said that despite what critics may say, there should be no need to cut into essential police and fire services.

In not-so-veiled references to Minneapolis and St. Paul, Pawlenty said that so long as cities maintained their own human rights departments and cultural community liaisons, they had places to cut before touching basic services.

T-Paw, as da kidz call him, will be curious to watch over the next two years…especially considering 2008 was supposed to be his coming out party. He co-chaired the McCain campaign, the RNC Convention was in his home state of Minnesota, and was the frontrunner to be chosen for vice-president…until John McCain dumped him for someone much prettier. Palin even stole his thunder at the Republican Governors Association. He’s like the Rodney Dangerfield of the GOP…no respect.

I put Pawlenty in the same category as SC Gov. Mark Sanford. He doesn’t have Mitt Romney’s economic background, Newt Gingrich’s ideas, Bobby Jindal’s pedigree, or Sarah Palin’s natural charisma. What he does have is a catchy campaign label (“Sam’s Club voters”), and from what I’ve seen a pretty decent sense of humour.

He’s definitely on my list.

The forty-eight year old Governor of Minnesota is rumored to be considering a run in 2012…just like every other current Republican governor…and at least two former governors…plus I’m sure a senator or two…plus I’ll be old enough in four years, so who knows? Regardless, the competition is already pretty fierce and it’s hard to cut through the media when you have Sarah Palin on one side and Bobby Jindal on the other (who’s increasingly getting more and more attention from the press that will turn on him if he ever gets the nomination).

My advice to Gov. Pawlenty, or T-Paw as the kidz call him, is the same advice I’ve been giving people…ENOUGH WITH 2012 ALREADY! We still have 2010. Decide if you want to run for a third term in Minnesota, and then maybe consider focusing more on 2016. Pawlenty seems like a generally smart and funny guy who just screams “Fox News Contributor.” Build up a base and make a name for yourself outside of being the guy some think John McCain should have picked.

Plus there one thing all of these future candidates don’t seem to be catching on to. If 2010 is as bad as 2008 and 2004…2012 might not even matter.

Then in January, it’s time to get back to work with a new RNC chair (God willing, Michael Steele), new House Leadership (::cough::paulryan::cough::), and as silly as I think it is to be talking aboot it this early, new Presidential candidates (which is where Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee come in). There’s also the afore mentioned governors to look at. You may or may not have heard of Sarah Palin. You will be hearing a lot from Tim Pawlenty, especially with the Minnesota Senate debacle recount. Though the one I’d keep the closest eye on is Bobby Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar and the thirty-eight year old Governor of Louisiana.

He was on “Face the Nation” yesterday, and in diagnosing the problems facing the GOP, he had this to say…

“We have got to be the party that offers real solutions to the problems that American voters, American families are worried about. We don’t need to abandon our conservative principles; we can’t just be the ‘party of no.’ We need to offer real solutions on making health care more affordable, on the economic challenges facing families, on the international threats.”

Normally when I hear people say that, my initial reaction is, “No shit, real solutions? Next you’re going to tell me we need to stop the out of control spending too.” What makes Jindal different from the other 217 people making similar statements is that, as Governor, he’s backing it up. Health care is a good example of this, which he’s been working on reforming in Louisiana for twelve years now. It’s for him what energy policy is to Sarah Palin. Or, to quote Newt:

“If you want to understand healthcare, you can do a lot worse than to bring in Bobby Jindal who may well know more about health policy than any other elected official in America and is doing an extraordinary job in Louisiana.”

Gov. Jindal is making his first trip to Iowa later this month, and as we all know, the only reason to ever go to Iowa is because you’re thinking of running for President. Personally, I don’t see him running, or at least “actually” running. He might tease it just to increase his national stature, but in 2012 he’ll just be finishing up his first term as Governor and will only be forty-two. It’s not like he’s in a rush, and if Obama’s first term is successful, it might make more sense to wait until 2016.

However, I have to admit, a Gingrich/Jindal or Romney/Jindal ticket definitely piques my curiosity.

In light of the latest Fred Thompson rumors, and how he may be considering running for RNC Chair, there seems to be three schools of though as to what’s more important for the future of the Republican party: a return to traditional conservatism, an expansion of the party’s base, or an infusion of new policy ideas. If you’re like me and think expanding the base is the most important, I want you to read the above quote and join me in an excercise.

Below the fold, you’ll find four pictures of four leaders in the Republican Party. Tell me which one says “expand the base” the least…

A. B.
C. D.

UPDATE:Michael Steele made it official. You can read some of my thoughts on it here.

.

“I have a wife who genuinely loves to fish. I mean, she will take the lead and ask me to go out fishing, and joyfully comes here,” the governor said before adding, “She loves football, she’ll go to hockey games and, I jokingly say, ‘Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me.’”

The governor quickly clarified, “It’s a joke, it’s a joke.”

Hey, I thought it was funny.