Posted on 08/16/2007 8:36:16 AM PDT by Kuksool
In the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's approval rating has climbed to its highest level recorded during his tenure in office, a new poll shows. The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA over the past weekend, found that 59 percent of Minnesotans approve of the job Pawlenty is doing at a time when the aftermath of the collapse has thrust him into the national spotlight. By comparison, 37 percent of Minnesotans disapprove of his job performance and 4 percent have no opinion. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
T-Paw has the potential to make it in the big leagues.
I’m glad the KOS Smear hasn’t taken effect on Pawlenty.
Now that Tommy Thompson said he won’t be anyone’s Veep, Pawlenty could be a valuable Veep for GOP nominee.
bump
It would be really smart for the 2008 Republican presidential nominee to pick a Veep from a state that barely went for Gore or Kerry.
Not a Pawlenty supporter at all. He broke his no tax pledges and the bridge was NOT a question of money but priorities and now he is pandering to the higher tax crowd and making speeches.
I hope he (Pawlenty) likes his baseball stadium; that was a missguided priority he fought for over 8 years on. Caught a picture of him (Pawlenty) beaming alongside our resident Billionaire Carl Pohlad who stands to gain another $200 million with our tax money; Pawlenty was all smiles, he actually wore a BASEBALL uniform to the bill signing ceremony where he instantaneously made Carl another 200 million or so.
That sounded decidedly liberal. Hatred of the rich.
Pawlenty is a GREAT way to peel Minnesota’s electoral votes off the Democrat next year. A Romney Pawlenty ticket would be TWO former governors with executive experience vs two senators with none.
But in the end it is all about tactics. If we lose Ohio and hold all other states, plus add Minnesota, we still win. NEVER EVER forget . . . tactics trumps policy every single time.
Yes, the Democrat-majority state senate threatened a state govt shutdown to force him into agreeing to a small tax increase, just to break the pledge. But government is not dictatorship -- sometimes you have to take the best you can get.
Perhaps he can politically leverage the bridge collapse like Giuliani, who made some speeches following 9/11.
Gov Sarah Palin’s approval is 90% or more. She could be the VP nominee, although Alaska would be sad to lose her.
Palin ought to stay in AK and rebuild the party. Palin needs to be the face of the AK GOP, not Ted stevens and Don Young.
The Party is as good as buried. Alaska has any number of grassroots parties. A recent head of the Green Party got arrested for something stupid a couple days ago. Nobody is clear if they have been in office over a year—that’s the rule.
The GOP doesn’t have that big of a pool to draw from, sad to say. Though I think some House members ought to be considered. That would be highly unusual, however. I might throw out the names of Mike Pence of IN, Paul Ryan of WI, or Candace Miller of MI. Just a thought.
Having said that though, obviously Pawlenty would have to be high on the list. If they are looking for a governor with a record of electability from a swing state, then he is a logical choice. Perhaps with Pawlwenty on the ticket the GOP nominee would carry MN, WI, and some other states that went very narrowly for Kerry. Might give Sen Norm Coleman a boost too.
Gov Pawlenty reneged on his promise of no new taxes and dumped a stadium in my lap. On the other hand, compared to Gov. Ventura, we are in heaven.
Back in the days when McCrazy was the “front-runner” the rumor was that he was eyeing Pawlenty as his veep. It is good strategically as long as his favorables stay high.
If it could help with a neighboring blue state even better. Kerry did not win by much in some of them.
What executive experience does Precious Willard have beyond nailing his state and his state party’s coffin lid shut ? Keep that one-man RINO wrecking crew the hell away from DC, thank you. As for Pawlenty, he won’t help carry MN for the GOP, they haven’t voted for the GOP since 1972. He needs to work on reversing the horrendous losses we sustained in the legislature last year.
And Hillary’s running mate will likely be Gov. Bill the Perv Richardson from New Mexico, not Obama.
I am impressed by Palwenty’s approval ratings. The voters who elected a Rodent legislature are having serious buyer’s remorse, just like the Michigan voterst who reelected Jennifer Graham. And Palwenty would be a good choice for VP.
The more I think it over, the more I think that Fred Thompson would be the best choice for President, even though I think highly of the GOP field as a whole. A Thompson/Palwenty ticket would be a good one. And while I know you disapprove of Romney or Giuliani at the top of the ticket, they would also be good choices as Thompson’s running mates.
Disapproving of taxpayer funding of new playgrounds isn’t hating the rich. Like Jesse Ventura famously said: “If they can afford to pay their players $100 million dollar contracts, then they can afford to build their own stadium.”
I’ve been touting Pawlenty as a potential presidnetial or VP candidate for 2008 since 2004 or so, although his star had seemed to wane of late (at least in my eyes). When I saw how he had regained his popularity, I must admit that my first thought was “maybe he can still be the Midwestern governor that can balance Fred Thompson’s ticket.” Pawlenty is socially conservative, which I believe is non-negotiable for GOP presidential or VP candidates, and as a Minnesotan he could held FDT carry Minnesota (which gave President Bush 48% in 2004), Wisconsin (over 49% for Bush in 2004) and Iowa (which Bush carried with just under 50% in 2004). If a Thompson-Pawlenty ticket can carry those three states, that would result in an additional 20 electoral votes for the GOP, which would cancel out our possible (but not necessarily *likely*) loss of Ohio (which also has 20 EVs).
The Democrats would thus need to gain at least a net 17 EVs beyond Ohio to win in 2008, which against a Thompson-Pawlenty ticket could only be done by carrying each of Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which would be quite uphill for Hillary, Obama or Edwards. (While the Democrats could gain a net 19 EVs by carrying each of New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, I don’t think national Democrats can win in Colorado even with a Western Hispanic such as Bill Richardson as the VP nominee.)
Goldwater,
I think you’ve got it. Fred/Tim ‘08
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