Subscribe to our RSS feed
Follow us on Twitter
Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s decision to not seek re-election in 2010 continues to draw attention from the national press. Today the New York Times looks at the decision through the prism of presidential ambitions. Pawlenty is among a handful of sitting governors that are widely expected to be contenders for the GOP endorsement in 2012. The question they face: Is it better to be in or out of office?
Pawlenty apparently decided on the latter, perhaps swayed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s emergence as the the GOP favorite for 2012. While Pawlenty has repeatedly denied plans for a presidential run, he’s getting some high-profile advice:
“Anyone who is running for president who is not governor has more leeway on what issues he wants to weigh in on,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and an adviser to Mr. Pawlenty. “I think that gives you more freedom to pick and chose. But I don’t know which is more valuable: being able to pick and chose like that or being in a state adding to a record of accomplishment.”
Conant served as press secretary for the Republican National Committee during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Leave a comment
Become a fan on Facebook
1 Comment »
Comment posted June 10, 2009 @ 8:15 am
Good article in the NYTimes … thanks for linking it.
Isn’t the real question, “Did Pawlenty’s fear of being defeated in a 2010 gubernatorial bid dictate his decision ?”
A Presidential campaign is easier to promote when the candidate is a sitting Governor — Bush succeeded while Romney, Huckabee, Pataki, Thompson could barely get media attention. Pawlenty has been a mainstay on news programs … as a sitting Governor his words carry more interest. In the new world of cable news, Pawlenty will be competing with Romney, Huckabee, Sanford, Barbour, etc for air time.
Looking at the current crop of Republican contenders, Pawlenty does not have an easy core group of voters to attract – he’s not military, etc. Iowa will start out the primary season and the Same Sex Marriage will be on front stage – Huckabee won in 2008 and no reason why he should not win again. Next up should be New Hampshire where Romney should do well. Pawlenty’s candidacy could be finished very early.
Now, as a sitting Governor, Pawlenty would have had appeal as a VP candidate especially if Romney gets the nomination.
That really leads to 2016 as Pawlenty’s real campaign date … something that would have naturally followed the completion of his third term in 2014.
Back to my question, YES, he saw a difficult (although not unwinable) path to another term … he chickened out.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment