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An ultratough new version of Tim Pawlenty showed up at CPAC to demonstrate that he’s got what it takes to save America.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was briefly in town this morning to meet with a select group of Arkansas Republicans. He visited with privately with Lt. Gov. Mark Darr and Secretary of State Mark Martin along with Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb before meeting with a larger group at the Republican Party offices in Little Rock.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is pictured below with Lt Gov. Mark Darr:
I have always heard that the Republicans choose the guy whose turn it is while the Democrats are attracted to the unknown guys like Jimmy Carter. If that holds true then Pawlenty doesn’t have a chance.
After spending a year traveling the country to campaign for conservative candidates and speak at Republican gatherings — in effect, testing the presidential waters — Tim Pawlenty is about to embark on a new tour as an author.
The outgoing Minnesota governor’s book tour will also be a test of his appeal as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012. So far, his star seems as dim as it was when he announced that he would not seek re-election as governor, igniting speculation that he would seek the GOP presidential nomination.
Still, some political experts say Pawlenty is making all the right moves, regardless of whether they are paying off immediately, and that could brighten his chances of breaking into the top tier of potential candidates.
“He’s taking the right steps he needs to take to run a campaign,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “But when the question is, ‘Why Pawlenty? What’s the base of support that he has that no one else has?’ It’s hard to answer that right now.”
Despite all that he’s done, Pawlenty has a lot more work to do to become competitive, said Allan Lichtman, a presidential scholar at American University in Washington.
“He’s got a lot of candidates to leapfrog over,” Lichtman said, naming 2012 potentials Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In the past three to four decades of Republican presidential primary history, no virtual unknown has emerged to capture the GOP nomination, Lichtman said. That is a phenomenon more familiar to Democrats. Capturing a party’s nomination with little national name recognition would require riding a hot issue or building a superior field operation, Lichtman said.
“Democrats have had unknowns come out from nowhere … but Republicans have no history of it,” Lichtman said. “The best model is George McGovern. He did it with both a major issue, the (Vietnam) war, and with grassroots organizing.”
In 1972, McGovern of South Dakota won the Democratic Party nomination on an anti-war platform over establishment favorite Ed Muskie of Maine.
The likelihood of Pawlenty being able to pull off a similar coup is virtually nil, Lichtman said.
“Something strange would have to happen for him to get the nomination,” he said.
But there’s nothing odd about the tour Pawlenty will begin after his book, “Courage To Stand,” in which he writes about growing up in the meatpacking town of South St. Paul, hits the shelves on Jan. 11. He follows Palin and Huckabee as potential 2012 candidates promoting a new book. Gingrich also has a book out.
The Daily Hatch 