Three potential 2012ers set to campaign together for Emmer

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer continues to be the darling of Republican politicians with national aspirations. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Minnesota’s own Gov. Tim Pawlenty are all scheduled for a joint Oct. 30 rally boosting Emmer, according to the Star Tribune.

All three governors set to appear with Emmer have seen their names bandied about as potential 2012 presidential hopefuls. Both Barbour and Pawlenty have clearly broadcast their intentions to seriously consider presidential campaigns after the midterm elections. After serving less than a full year in the governor’s office, Christie has been hesitant to discuss future national aspirations, but he finished first in a recent tea party convention straw poll and visited Iowa earlier this month.

Once the midterm elections are over in two weeks, potential Republican candidates will likely begin solidifying their political organizations and campaigning against one and other, so this may be the last time three possible candidates appear together on stage until the pre-primary debates begin in 2011. The optics of the rally may also counter some of the star power in Washington, D.C., as the much-hyped Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally on the National Mall is scheduled for the same day.

Emmer has received support from a number of GOP luminaries of the late. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigned with Emmer earlier this week, and will appear with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Winona on Saturday as part of Gingrich’s “Jobs Here, Jobs Now Tour.”

The Emmer event follows a rally for Democrat Mark Dayton this Saturday. President Barack Obama will attend a public rally on Dayton’s behalf on the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Mall on Oct. 23. It’s the first time in almost a century that a sitting president has been part of such an event on campus.

Patrick Caldwell is the American Independent’s Minnesota correspondent.