Haley Barbour

The Republican Party isn’t big enough to “throw people overboard,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty told GOP activists in Des Moines on Saturday. Jason Hancock of the Minnesota Independent’s sister site, the Iowa Independent, was there.

Pooh-poohing concerns about disruptions at town hall meetings last Friday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty was already singing in harmony with the Republican Governors Association, a group that recently elected him its vice-chairman.
“It’s democracy in action,” Pawlenty told listeners to his weekly WCCO-AM radio show. Those are the same words Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue used to describe [...]

He didn’t quite get to be vice president on the GOP ticket last year, but today Gov. Tim Pawlenty was named vice chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).

If Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s office still uses those “While You Were Out” notes, his Monday-morning stack would make interesting reading. During his weekend trip to Iraq, Pawlenty was called a GOP “star” like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and his name came up in speculation about which unnamed governor was reportedly also serviced by one of former [...]

Tim Pawlenty travels the country, speaking to whoever will invite him about the GOP’s future and other topics. He’s refrained from announcing any extramarital affairs or his impending resignation. But the Minnesota governor’s support as a 2012 presidential prospect among Republicans nationally remains low, according to a new Gallup Poll.

While hardly an accurate indicator of how Tim Pawlenty might do as the GOP’s 2012 presidential candidate, a new Rasmussen poll does have one takeaway for Minnesota’s governor: he’s got a long way to go to raise awareness among Republicans about who he is.