VP or not VP: Pawlenty’s good fortune could turn into our Gov. Carol Molnau

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is clearly among the frontrunners for the No. 2 spot on the Republican ticket. Every beltway wonk has him on their short list and Marc Ambinder recently reported on a T-Paw fundraiser hosted at the Georgetown townhouse of former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman that had the whiff of a VP kickoff party. So it’s not too early to begin contemplating what will happen at 1006 Summit Avenue if Pawlenty ultimately finds himself a stroke away from the Oval Office.

The answer is quite simple: under the Minnesota Constitution Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau would serve out the final two years of Pawlenty’s term. While this move would undoubtedly improve the cow-milking capabilities of the state’s top officeholder, based on Molnau’s ill-fated tenure as transportation commissioner it wouldn’t bode particularly well for the residents of Minnesota.

But if Molnau were to move up, who then would advance to within a keg-throwing accident of the governor’s mansion? Senate President James Metzen. “I really haven’t given it much thought,” laughs Metzen, a seven-term DFL senator from South St. Paul. “I think it’s a longshot. If succession did happen I’d have to figure out what the lieutenant governor does. Maybe I’d get a few more days to go fishing in the summer.”