Buried in Robert Draper’s absorbing inside look at John McCain’s presidential campaign is a minor nugget regarding Gov. Tim Pawlenty. As top strategists Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis were pushing a Sarah Palin VP pick, the other member of McCain’s inner circle, Mark Salter, was a T-Paw advocate.

A senior adviser said: “Salter was always a big Pawlenty fan — son of a truck driver, salt of the earth, genuine guy. Just thought he was a good, honest addition to the McCain brand as opposed to, say, Romney.” That so much momentum had been building in Palin’s favor was likely a surprise to Salter, says one of the few individuals privy to the vice-presidential selection process: “Mark was new to it, and so it was important to us to make sure that he was in on the situation that was brewing.”