pawlentyskyIs the honeymoon over already for Gov. Tim Pawlenty? The Republican has largely been receiving accolades from the national media as he’s bolstered his profile with cable television appearances and laid the groundwork for a potential 2012 presidential bid. But influential Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza takes Pawlenty down a few pegs in a post today headlined “Tpaw’s bad week.”

Cillizza knocks Pawlenty for clumsily wading into the congressional race in upstate New York that was ultimately won by Democrat Bill Owens. He also criticizes the Republican governor for an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show during which he suggested that U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine might not be sufficiently down with GOP orthodoxy to remain a member in good standing of the party. The upshot of these two events, according to Cillizza: Pawlenty appears to be too transparently pandering to conservative activists.

Even so, The Fix scribe is not willing to write off Pawlenty’s 2012 ambitions. “Pawlenty still has more than two years to grow into the role he is running for,” Cillizza notes. “And, now is the time to make mistakes — when only a few super-nerdy political junkies (yours truly very much included) and a handful of party activists are paying close attention.”