It remains entirely possible, despite his summer slump, that Tim Pawlenty will win Iowa, and all the attendant money and momentum that comes with that feat. Hiring the daughter-slash-political-advisor of Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa in 2008, probably helps a little bit. If it means that Pawlenty may be lining up an endorsement from Huck himself, that could help substantially. Which, more broadly, is also a reminder that Pawlenty still has a shot at winning Iowa’s all-important evangelical voters. Mitt Romney might snap up most of the state’s moderate and not-very-religious caucus goers. But evangelicals remain up for grabs.
As Amy wrote Tuesday morning, Christian right leaders are eager for Texas Governor Rick Perry to enter what they consider an unsatisfying field. But if Perry doesn’t run, their obvious choices would seem to be Pawlenty and Michelle Bachmann, both of whom have strong evangelical backgrounds. (Gingrich flunks for multiple reasons. The two Mormons are problematic. Cain and Santorum are probably too marginal.) If Bachmann runs a solid and disciplined campaign–without giving up the electrifying style she perfected on cable TV–Pawlenty might be in deep trouble. If he can sow enough doubts about her competency and credibility as an electable nominee, he may yet wind up as the choice of religiously-oriented Iowa voters. Especially if he does wind up getting some help from the man those voters turned into a star in January, 2008.