Pawlenty: A $50 gift to the NRSC and this fish could be you

Photo: Tom Scheck, MPR Polinaut

Among the rewards Gov. Pawlenty dangles in a fundraising email on behalf of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC): “a photo opportunity with me.”

A randomly selected donor of $50 or more to the NRSC will get an expenses-paid trip to the organization’s meeting next month in Washington, D.C., including a seat at the same table as Pawlenty when he addresses the group at its Kickoff Luncheon.

And this being a meeting of Republicans, you can expect talk about opportunity. In this case, a photo opportunity, with T-Paw.

That’s a prize that might not have seemed so prizeworthy before Pawlenty’s recent rapid rise as a GOP presidential prospect … like back in April when Pawlenty posed with a guy in a fish suit at another luncheon, at the White Bear Lake Chamber of Commerce.