TPaw Out
By Mitch Berg
News just broke that Tim Pawlenty has dropped out of the Presidential race, after coming in a weak third in the Iowa caucus.
On the one hand, he got a bad rap; he’s a great stump speaker, and those who said was “too blah” have no idea what he did when facing two DFL chambers in the legislature.
On the other hand, his campaign focused on electability rather than principle – a strategy that, along with his record, could have worked in the GOP of 2000 or 2004. But this year’s crop is all about the principle; firebrand conservativm sells.
While Pawlenty got painted with the “moderate” brush – one he certainly deserved in the state House – he was a political engineer who worked that could be fairly called miracles on the conservative issue that matters most, budgets and taxation.
I’d hoped he’d go a lot farther.
August 14th, 2011 at 8:48 am
It’s too bad. The job of running for president has a different skill set than the job of being president. To me that was T-Paw’s problem. Also, it’s difficult to explain what he did in Minnesota in a world where you only get a 10-second soundbite.
He might consider running for the Senate against Klobuchar in 2012, but in some respects he might be better off waiting for 2014 to run agains Franken. He’s still young enough to have a second act.
August 14th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Yes, the straw poll showed that Pawlenty isn’t a viable candidate — at least not in this election cycle. However, his departure — combined with Romney’s refusal to participate and Perry’s timing — make it even more likely that mainstream candidates will avoid this event in the future.
August 14th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Peter,
Yep.
More tomorrow.
August 14th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Of all the candidates I thought he’d make the best President, but winning the presidency just wasn’t in the cards. He’s got the skills and backbone necessary to fight the Democrats and win while in government, while turning defeat into a draw that somewhat like Bachmann just doesn’t have. Bachmann can fire them up, but I remain unconvinced she’ll do well as President if the GOP doesn’t hold the House and take the Senate. But I never could quite see TPaw firing up the base enough to take the primaries, so this outcome is a real shame.
August 14th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Mitch,
I was down in Ames and while Pawlenty had the footsoldiers to compete, the “blah” factor was certainly higher among the locals. It never helped that his most ardent supporters couldn’t vote at Ames because they were Minnesotans. I recognized many of his volunteers from back home.
The post mortem on T-Paw’s erstwhile candidacy has already been written many times over but I think most of them miss an essential part: he didn’t perfectly fit any one constituency within the GOP.
You want an electable establishment candidate? Pawlenty could have been the candidate, but Romney fills that slot better. You want a Tea Party contender? Pawlenty talks the talk, but Michele Bachmann pulls on the heartstrings of the Tea Party far better. You want someone who crosses multiple constituencies? Rick Perry, for better or worse, is viewed as that candidate.
You can’t run as the Jack of All Trades unless you’re willing to be Master of None. And in a nutshell, that was probably Tim Pawlenty’s ultimate undoing.