Throughout this campaign season, I’ve been extremely impressed with the work that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has done as a surrogate for the McCain campaign. Pawlenty is impressive not just because he has won two competitive races for Governor running as a conservative in a blue state. Pawlenty also knows how to speak to blue-collar “Reagan Democrats” without being condescending. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that this group of voters is being wooed heavily by both Presidential campaigns.
In Monday’s Washington Times, Pawlenty offered some analysis on his own Party saying, “[T]he Republican Party adheres to the free market and must realize ‘we’ve been losing market share’ and ‘our customers, namely voters, have been preferring the products of our competitor.'” Pawlenty also offers some solutions to that problem that conservatives of all stripes ought to be able to embrace.
I think John McCain could do a lot worse that picking Tim Pawlenty as his choice for Vice President. Even if he doesn’t though, I have a feeling that we’re going to continue hearing from Pawlenty in the years ahead.
