VP or not VP: Michigan VIPs treated to Pawlenty’s disembodied voice

If all went according to back-up plan, then Gov. Tim Pawlenty did speak to attendees of a Monday night Michigan Republican fundraiser after all, even though MInnesota budget negotiations kept him at home. The video conferencing wasn’t working, a Michigan House Republican spokesperson told the Minnesota Monitor, so arrangements were made for the rising star on the national scene to phone it in.

Pawlenty’s originally scheduled in-person appearance caught the eye of veepstakes handicapper Marc Ambinder, but T-Paw, taking a page from Sly Stone’s current tour handbook, cancelled.

A scramble Monday morning for a replacement keynote speaker did not result in veep rival Mitt Romney taking the podium. (Romney returns to his home state Tuesday as John McCain’s special guest at a separate fundraiser.) Instead, after Pawlenty’s communique over the P.A. to 150 or so VIPs, Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land was to address all 300 attending the Monday event, for which the top ticket cost $20,000.