Gov.
Tim Pawlenty is holding a news conference at 2 p.m. to announce his future plans. Sources are telling Pat Kessler that
he will annouce he
will not run for re-election.
Not
a surprise considering in his two previous bids he never got 50 percent of the
vote. In 2002, he won with 45 percent. In 2006, he won with 46 percent of the
vote, barely eking out a victory over Mike Hatch, whose campaign imploded in
the final week.
Pawlenty
is also facing an enormous budget crisis, in which he is taking the politically
risky move of cutting the budget by himself through a rarely used state power
of unallotment. But perhaps more significantly, no Minnesota governor has ever
been elected to three four-year terms. History is on the side of Pawlenty not
running.
The
bigger question is: Will he run for President? Just about every expert I have
talked with -- including Professor Larry Jacobs, Professor Steven Schier and
Professor Dave Schultz -- believes he will run. Well-regarded by national Republicans,
Pawlenty's mantra of inclusion for the Republican Party is one that should
resonate with Republicans looking for a new leader.
The
Governor's call for the party to represent not just "country club Republicans"
but the "Sam's Club republicans" may be the perfect message for a
minority party struggling to find its way in the midst of the worst recession
since the 1930s.
I
just wonder if the Governor has any speaking engagements in Des Moines soon?
