Chris Cillizza

Gov. Pawlenty’s recent efforts to pander to the conservative GOP base is “Romneyesque,” observes veteran Washington Post political reporter Dan Balz. He warns that Pawlenty is in danger of losing his political compass as he attempts to position himself for a 2012 presidential bid.
In particular, Balz criticizes T-Paw for his awkward refusal to embrace Maine [...]

“As one of my good friends and supporters, I want you to know that today we filed the paperwork to create the R.T. Rybak for Governor Committee.” And so Minneapolis’ newly re-elected mayor at long last made his intentions clear — though murky syntax made it sound like he is one of his own good friends [...]

Is 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 [...]

To paraphrase one of our governor’s favorite gags, the only thing rising faster than Tim Pawlenty on The Fix’s list of most influential Republicans is Chris Cillizza’s man-crush on Pawlenty. (Hey, it’s super-funny the way T-Paw tells it, about another Chris, MSNBC’s Matthews, and his fondness for Obama.) Pawlenty rockets up from the number 6 [...]

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza has released his latest assessment of the top gubernatorial races in 2010. Owing at least in part to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s announcement that he won’t seek a third term, Minnesota’s crowded contest makes the cut for the first time, slotting in at 11th. The races are ranked in order of [...]

Yesterday the Washtington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote a post highlighting the apparent dearth of female politicians eyeing presidential runs. In response, readers threw out numerous names of potential presidential contestants: Kirsten Gillibrand, Kathleen Sebelius and Michelle Obama, among others. But the female pol that was most frequently cited as a prospective future White House occupant? [...]

What was that all about? We shook two 24-hour news cycles’ worth of media mumbo-jumbo on the Coleman-Franken fracas, and this is what fell out.

Minnesota has had more than its share of the national political spotlight in recent years. The Republican National Convention, Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s VP prospects and, of course the never-ending U.S. Senate contest have assured that Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has seen plenty of traffic from national political reporters. But the spotlight is likely to turn [...]

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza has updated his top 10 list of Republicans to keep an eye on heading towards the 2012 presidential contest. Gov. Tim Pawlenty makes the cut in slot nine, two places down from the previous list.

A week after losing his KSTP AM show, Dave Thompson is throwing his hat in the ring to become state GOP chair. Chris Cillizza’s best-state-based blogs list came out at the Washington Post today, and Minnesota has more featured blogs than any other state. And a traffic milestone for MinnPost. All this, plus some naughty humor from Roger Ebert, inside.