Reply #6: Pawlenty is not popular here.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

Both times he ran for governor he won by a hair. The first time there was a third party candidate that took votes away from the Dem; the second time he won by less than 1%, running against a Dem who wasn't especially well-liked and who ran a poor campaign. As governor he slashed taxes to benefit the corporations and the wealthy, and attempted to make up the shortfall with "fees" on state services that used to be free (and that, of course, were a greater burden on the poor). He didn't like spending money on things like freeway bridges, either. The I-35 bridge collapse is guaranteed to haunt his political career, although he tries very hard to blame it on others.

Although he likes to convey an image of a nice guy, a blue-collar fellow with a mullet who's just a regular salt of the earth midwesterner, he's extremely ambitious and as mean as a snake. He'll pander to whomever requires pandering, and lately it's been the teabagger crowd. He seems to have thought he had McCain's VP job in the bag, and ever since he's been trying to out-Palin Palin. But he isn't good at it. He's an asshole, but he's a boring asshole who tries to be clever and tell jokes and he just can't do it. But he's smarter than Palin (not that that takes much), and he's a sneaky weasel with some money connections. So he bears watching. But I don't expect him to get the nomination.