For a long time I thought Tim Pawlenty would be the eventual nominee. He kept his head down, worked hard, and hired a hell of a good team. Nick Ayers, Alex Conant, Ann Marie Hauser, and the rest of the team have really done well building Pawlenty’s image as a problem solver and as a blue state leader with red state values. Unfortunately, the personal | Read More »
Tim Pawlenty has a new ad up in Iowa. I have started hesitating writing posts like this because inevitably the other campaigns decide I’m with the guy I’m writing about. Right now, I’m being inundating with angry emails from Herman Cain supporters accusing me of being against him. Others are attacking me for being too pro-Bachmann. So I guess it is time to go full | Read More »
IA Caucus: Feb. 6, 2012 NH Primary: Feb. 14, 2012 (expected) SC Primary: TBD NV Caucus: Feb. 18, 2012 Michele Bachmann has caused a mystery and a feeding frenzy in the press. What’s her number? Not her phone number. Her bank balance. It is the big question in Washington and in political circles across the nation — how much money has Michele Bachmann raised? Sources | Read More »
The energy level was not the same as with Michele Bachmann, but then the speech was a different sort of speech. Pawlenty arrived at Right Online after a rough day of travel from Iowa with a very late plane. We were actually going to meet and chat before he went on stage. Instead, he took off from Iowa at the time we were supposed to | Read More »
I think Mitt Romney did not just win the New Hampshire debate by holding his own, but legitimately won it with his answers and composure. He was unnecessarily defensive on the Afghan question, but largely showed his experience with Presidential debates. The surprise last night was Michelle Bachmann. If there was a winner of the anti-Romney coalition, Michelle Bachmann not only won, but won by | Read More »
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done one of these. A lot has happened since then. Let’s get started and, again, we’ll go in alphabetical order. Just note that I’m putting Sarah Palin and Rick Perry outside the list, since they are just speculation right now and I want to deal with them first, above the fold. Sarah Palin I still think Sarah Palin | Read More »
I want to spend some time talking about zealots and zealotry. Already, the situation is growing out of hand, and I expect it to get even worse as we head further into campaign season. The Rebecca Mansour situation yesterday was a case in point. I cannot tell you the number of people who read the Daily Caller article and still emailed me under the belief | Read More »
On Saturday, several thousand people showed up in the humid heat of Atlanta to hear Herman Cain announce his bid for the Presidency. Today, in Iowa, Tim Pawlenty will announce his bid. If you have not seen it already, go watch Pawlenty’s preview. I am actually floored it is so well done. Newt Gingrich is already in. Mitt Romney will make a big splash soon | Read More »
Tim Pawlenty will declare his candidacy for the Presidency on Monday. It’s not like this is unexpected news, but at least he is finally making it official. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a laid-back Midwestern Republican who governed a Democratic-leaning state, is running for president and will declare his candidacy on Monday in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa, an adviser told The Associated Press. | Read More »
I think I’ll start doing this every week. The feedback, both from you guys and from others who are trying to keep up with the pulse within the conservative grassroots has been very positive. Feel free to disagree. I’m just giving you my honest take on where I see the 2012 horse race right now. Last week I took a bit of heat from Dan | Read More »
It’s that time boys and girls — that time where I tell you what I really think and you can all hate me for daring to say something critical about your preferred candidate. Here’s how I think the 2012 race is shaping up by candidate, in alphabetical order.
Two winners came out of the South Carolina Republican Presidential Debate. Let me start this off by noting that Frank Luntz’s panel went for Herman Cain first and Rick Santorum second. Why? Their effective takedowns of Obama. In fact, Republican candidates need to note this, Santorum scored big tonight in his very effective take down of Obamacare. Now, to the real winners. The first winner | Read More »
I have done my best to ignore Tim Pawlenty. He has never struck me as the most exciting politician. His global warming position made me squeamish. He’s always had an okay record as Governor, but around the edges he struck me as not really a movement conservative. So I haven’t paid attention to Tim Pawlenty. Then he went and hired Nick Ayers. For those of | Read More »
Maybe had the libertarians done a better job of preventing their party from being overrun with libertines — a group of people who couldn’t care less about the size and scope of government as long as their desires for one night stands with a bag of weed and a tranny from 7th and Broadway are unimpeded by government — we wouldn’t be having these issues | Read More »
With polling now showing NY-23 has come down to a two man race between Hoffman and Owens, the Democrat, momentum is clearly in Hoffman’s favor. Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is now adding to the momentum becoming the first sitting Republican Governor to endorse Hoffman. This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin’s endorsement from last week. What makes this stand out even more than | Read More »
Sarah Palin is giving a big endorsement. She’s out swinging for Doug Hoffman, noting he is not a tool of the establishment. The big loser here is Tim Pawlenty. At the first of this month, he made a great deal out of his new leadership PAC. He made great hay out of going out for real conservatives and not just the same old, same old. | Read More »
Tim Pawlenty is on the phone with me now. A few of us were asked to get up early and be on a conference call this morning. We did not know what it was about. Now we know. He is starting a new leadership PAC as he heads out the door of political office. His PAC is going to be called the Freedom First PAC. | Read More »
Does that leave it to Romney? All the signs last evening were that it’d be Tim Pawlenty. The background chatter was Pawlenty. The phone calls were on Pawlenty. I guess everyone was wrong. According to the paper this morning, Pawlenty will, in fact, be at the fair and Pawlenty says he was happy to be considered. So, I’m guessing Romney. BTW, congrats to John McCain. | Read More »
(You can access a PDF version of this post by going here) From his official website: Governor Pawlenty grew up in South St. Paul, Minnesota. The only child in his family to graduate from college, he attended the University of Minnesota (B.A., J.D.) and practiced law in the private sector. His public service career includes serving as a city councilmember and ten-year member of the | Read More »
I’m confident enough to put this up now, but willing to be wrong. Right now though, every sign, signal, and background chatter indicates John McCain will pick Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s governor, as his running mate. UPDATE: A source close to the campaign now confirms for me that it “more likely than not” is Pawlenty. He does, however, caution me that the campaign does not actually | Read More »
![[RS]](/t/img/logo-footer.jpg){kind=logo}