Can Pawlenty separate himself from GOP field?

Jul 29, 2010 — The Dallas Morning News

By Carl Leubsdorf

Jul. 29, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune News Service delivered by Newstex) -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty acknowledges that his views won't differ much from those of other likely 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls.

Given that, he told a group of reporters, the way to persuade traditional "swing voters" is "to have a messenger that has walked in their shoes a bit" and has the credibility to show how to "use conservative values and approaches to address their concerns."

For the 49-year-old Pawlenty, that means taking advantage of his blue-collar background as the son of a St. Paul truck driver and the only one of five children to attend college and his success in applying conservative principles to govern his traditionally liberal state the past seven years.

But his bland personality and lifetime in politics may be handicaps in a large field that could include such colorful political figures as Sarah Palin and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and others with business and governmental backgrounds, like 2008 also-ran Mitt Romney and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Pawlenty would face an especially daunting political challenge in neighboring Iowa. Past victories by candidates from nearby states like Bob Dole and Barack Obama suggest he'll need a strong showing when the race formally begins there in a mere 18 months.

While his views might appeal to religious conservatives who dominate Iowa's Republican caucuses, he may have to compete with Palin and possibly former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the 2008 Iowa GOP winner.

Pawlenty, a runner-up when John McCain picked Palin as his 2008 running mate, said he won't formally decide on running until early 2011 and won't be influenced by other hopefuls, including Palin.

He noted Palin "could afford to wait a lot longer than most other candidates because she has kind of a built-in level of familiarity and awareness and support." That's reflected in polls showing the better known Palin, Romney, Huckabee and Newt Gingrich in double digits and lesser knowns like Pawlenty in low single digits.

But he has built a campaign team, formed political action committees in Iowa and the first primary state of New Hampshire, has achieved a state budget with sharp spending cuts and no tax increases and has just returned from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.

At Monday's breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor, Pawlenty said the U.S. needs to show "strategic patience" in Afghanistan's very complex circumstances. He criticized President Obama's plan to begin troop withdrawals next July, declaring "an arbitrary and inflexible deadline" would have "corrosive effects" within the country.

He said the U.S. should set firm objectives and then "say we are committed to be there until our objectives are met."

Pawlenty echoed Republican congressional leaders who have vowed to "repeal and replace" Obama's health care plan if the GOP wins Congress in November. And he said Obama fought the recession the wrong way, arguing his economic stimulus bill was "too large" and "too slow" and that a cut in payroll taxes would have been more effective.

Pawlenty opposed any deficit plan coupling tax increases with entitlement reforms and spending cuts, noting that if Republicans win one or both congressional houses, any tax hike would be "a non-starter."

He urged means testing Social Security cost-of-living adjustments to reduce benefits for higher-income Americans and said new workers should have the choice of traditional or individual retirement accounts.

Pawlenty called tea party activists "a positive force for the conservative movement" but acknowledged "there have always been a few individuals in any group who say and do things that are not wise."

He hailed the prospect of several GOP candidates who may win this year who don't fit the Republican "stereotype" of "middle-aged white guy CEOs." Though a "middle-aged white guy" himself, he suggested his blue-collar background was different enough from the GOP norm that he could "open the door to people who are not yet Republicans" in 2012.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News. Readers may write to him via e-mail at: carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com.

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Newstex ID: KRTN-0012-47430759