Needing comeback, Pawlenty puts out ‘Miracle on Ice’ video

Presidential candidate and former junior varsity hockey player Tim Pawlenty released an ad comparing his campaign to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.”

The 1980 U.S. hockey team, led by Minnesotan Herb Brooks and consisting of many University of Minnesota players, famously beat the U.S.S.R team in the Winter Olympics.

The video lauds Pawlenty’s terms as Minnesota governor, where he says he beat unions, won in a government shutdown and moved a liberal state to the right.

In recent weeks, the former Minnesota governor has taken to attacking his opponents, especially U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who is surging in Iowa polls. It’s a desperate tactic because, as University of Iowa Professor Tim Hagle pointed out to the Minnesota Independent recently, attacks on other Republicans tend to turn off the caucus-goers in the state.

“They need to distinguish each other, in ways that don’t diminish each other, because Republican voters don’t like that attacking each other sort of stuff,” Hagle said.

Recent media reports have suggested that Pawlenty is trying to lower expectations and position himself as an underdog candidate. But the comparisons to the “Miracle on ice”‘ may not help Pawlenty in his home state of Minnesota, home of hardcore hockey fans, where an early Twitter reaction described his new video as “blasphemous.”