Four years ago this month, Tim Pawlenty was walking his little black dog Mazy down an Eagan, Minn., cul-de-sac. John McCain …
tim pawlenty
Handicapping the Veepstakes: Tim Pawlenty Makes More Sense Than You Might Think
Part 5 of our ongoing series. Also see our analyses of Marco Rubio, Rob Portman, Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie.
The candidate: Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota
The bio: Pawlenty’s life story formed the narrative …
Amid Straw Poll Nonsense, the GOP Presidential Race Roars to Life
Say what you will about the Iowa straw poll. (“Good-natured fraud,” says Walter Shapiro. “Not very predictive,” says Jon Stewart. “Overhyped, underwhelming,” says Michael Crowley.) But no one can deny that the event …
Iowa’s Straw Poll Madness
Item updated below with Pawlenty campaign response
GOP primary reporters and junkies should read Walter Shapiro’s latest New Republic story (subscription required) on the absurd overhyping of Iowa’s quadrennial Republican primary straw poll, whose 2012 edition will be held in Ames on August 13. In Shapiro’s persuasive telling, the …
Tim Pawlenty: So Right, Something Is Wrong
Walter Shapiro, writing in The New Republic, gets at the center of the Tim Pawlenty zeitgeist with a new profile, a piece that not only features the phrase “spurning dentistry” and tours the candidate’s childhood neighborhood, but also compares a portion of his gubernatorial career to smoking too much pot in college. The core of the …
In Minnesota Shutdown, Wider Budget Conflict Comes to a Head
“We will not saddle our children and grandchildren with mounds of debts, with promises for funding levels that will not be there in the future,” said the Republican House Speaker, publicly feuding with the Democratic executive over how best to trim yawning deficits. “This is debt that they can’t afford. It’s debt that we can’t afford …
How Michele Bachmann’s Surge Reshuffles the GOP Presidential Race
Last week’s Des Moines Register poll tells us — assuming nothing actually happens in Iowa over the next six months — that about 22% of the 125,000 or so Hawkeyes most likely to show up for next year’s Republican caucus will …
Could the 2012 Election Be 2004 All Over Again?
There’s been a lot of buzz inside the Beltway about how this year’s crop of GOP wannabes is strikingly similar to the Democratic cast of George W. Bush challengers in 2004.
You have a frontrunner who is playing it safe and …
Herman Cain and the “Credible” Candidates
In the Des Moines Register’s poll released Saturday surveying Iowa Republicans’ preferences for their party’s presidential nomination, former Godfather’s pizza CEO Herman Cain came in third behind Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. If you’ve been following media odds-making, that ranking may surprise you. But it’s only the …
In the ArenaRepublican Party
Silly Pawlenty
The Republican criticism of President Obama’s Afghanistan drawdown has been muted, by the usual screechy standards. But there have been some real clunkers. Take this utterly absurd statement from Tim Pawlenty yesterday:
I thought [Obama’s] speech was deeply concerning. Look how he phrased the outcome of this war. He said we need to end
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Defining Pawlentycare
On the campaign trial – especially the presidential campaign trail – nuance rarely breaks through the fog of generalization. Mitt Romney is the frontrunner and a flip-flopper on the issues. Michele Bachmann is the Tea Party …
The GOP vs. the Fed
Which arm of government is most deplored by today’s Republican Party? It might be the allegedly jobs-killing Environmental Protection Agency. Or perhaps it’s the Health and Human Services Department, now tyrannically implementing …
Tim Pawlenty Tries to Turn the Page, Make Money
When running for President of the United States, there are certain things you never want to hear your advisers saying to the press. “I have not yet seen the National Enquirer story,” is one. “The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding,” is another. “Something will happen. Anthony Weiner will resign. Something will happen,” …