This is what I really wanted.

Pawlenty is great for young Republicans, has picture perfect kids, has great witt, and is tried and tested.

Folks let us unite because Pawlenty vs Biden is not even a contest Pawlenty is class act and a winner

Pawlenty sounds great. I just read the WSJ article and I like him a lot. A very genuine kind of person. Mr. Blow-dried Romney would have been a disaster in our current election environment.

Note he also did all this in one of the most Democratic states in the country. This is Wellstone country. It’s gotten less Democratic over time, but he even won (narrowly) in 2006 when the GOP got smacked in much more conservative places.

A pro-life evangelical, small government Republican has won in tough years in a tough place. That’s worth something and it’s worth giving him a higher profile.

But can he spell?

“Has keep state employment roles essentially flat “

Would that be unchanged job descriptions?

Or did you mean “employment rolls”? As in “roll call”?

A shrinking violet next to Biden.

Note that the futures markets have moved tons today. They went from Romney 50-60% and Pawlenty 20% this morning to Romney 50% and Pawlenty 40% about an hour ago.

Now they are Pawlenty 75% and Romney 15%. The hype is convincing money people. None of the KBH talk, Lieberman talk nor Cantor talk moved numbers close to this much.

McCain could have finally put a brilliant businessman on the ticket.

McCain could have put a strong woman on the ticket.

McCain chose a meek looking fellow that NO ONE has ever heard of before.

How much of a bounce do you get when 95% of the people say “who?” when they hear your pick?

38% of the Republican Delegates wanted Romney, 4% wanted Pawlenty. Pick the one no one wants.

Brilliant McCain, you just threw one you could have won away. idiotic.

No, he looks like a High School Basketball Coach.

Horrible, horrible, horrible, pick.

we didn’t need all of Mitt’s twenty negative points where he wouldn’t win a state either!

at least with pawlenty we have someone we don’t have to hypocrites defending for Romney’s endless flip flops, negative attacks and rich elitism (as the media would portray it)

this is a good solid choice, midwest values, youngish but experienced. executive!!

About Intrade is that the entire thing goes nuts just because one blogger “guesses” it will be Pawlenty.

People, HE DOES NOT KNOW.

He is basically saying here – “based upon what I have seen and heard, I am guessing Pawlenty…”

A pro-life, evangelical governor who held the line on spending and closed a budget deficit without raising taxes…

I think once people watch him speak, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. I’ve watched his speech to the National Press Club three times, and Pawlenty is intelligent, quick on his feet, and he’s governed a very liberal state reasonably well. Pawlenty is good at fielding questions from the press, too. A friend of mine watched his speech, and said, “He speaks to the people, not at the people.”

Also, I think it was important that McCain chose someone he likes.

“I’m confident enough to put this up now, but willing to be wrong.

Right now though, every sign, signal, and background chatter indicates John McCain will pick Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s governor, as his running mate.”

Doesn’t this sound like a flat-out guess to you? I’m loading up on Romney Contracts on InTrade.

Guess who Redstate hours before anyone else knew stated would be the lib VP-

yep- Joe Biden.

I think this site is a bit more than just some guy living in his mother’s basement taking a wild guess..

But there are many, many worse people. The challenge with Pawlenty is getting his name and face out there, without making the people tired of seeing him.

From Dec 5, 2007

http://archive.redstate.com/blogs/pilgrim/2007/dec/05/fishinforelectoralvotesin_08

halftime

It’s Romney…take it from a family memeber. You’ll see tomorrow.

NHDAD

9 Minutes ago registered and Romney could not even win NH primary and he lived in MA and owns home in NH. He ould bring nothing to ticket

One blogger on one website basically just guesses that Pawlenty is it (let me guess, he likes Pawlenty), and suddenlt his is the final word?

Huh?

Nobody else is saying this anywhere.

Romney is only one checked out by Secret Service.

will we never learn? I’m a very conservative long time Repub mother of 6. Am proud my four children old enough to vote all are Repubs (we must have done something right) But I cannot believe the Repubs on the National level are so bad at picking running mates.

The Gov of MN? Nice looking, definately younger than McCain. But no massive national following and experience. So why not a woman – Kay Bailey Hutchison? Or a black – JC Watts? or even better, a hispanic – the congresswomen from Florida (sorry but can’t remember her whole name)? Any of those are just as experienced as Pawlenty. And they bring something different to the ticket.

Can we please move ahead in this party? There are conservatives or conservatively-moderate Repub women, blacks, hispanics that can be strong on core beliefs and attract new people to our party.

I was afraid we would get two boring old white guys – ok, we got one old and one younger boring white guy. This does not inspire me to go out and work for the ticket. Vote for them? yes. Go out and work my butt off like I would have if it was Kay Bailey Hutchison ? No way!

Did1717- Don’t kill the messenger…Yes Romney lost NH…to McCain. Add the two togther and what do you get? Victory…and I get to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom soon!

nt

“2. Who should McCain pick as his vice presidential running mate? Pick One:

Mitt Romney 45.7 percent

Mike Huckabee 12.9 percent

Newt Gingrich 9.7 percent

Condi Rice 9.4 percent

Joe Lieberman 4.7 percent

Sarah Palin 3.2 percent

Bobby Jindal 2.9 percent

Kay Bailey Hutchison 2.9 percent

Rudy Giuliani 1.8 percent

Tim Pawlenty 1.6 percent

Tom Ridge 1.1 percent

Michael Bloomberg 0.9 percent

Charley Crist 0.9 percent

Jeb Bush 0.7 percent

Jack Kemp 0.5 percent

Mark Sanford 0.3 percent

Phil Gramm 0.3 percent

John Thune 0.3 percent “

Nothing wrong with Pawlenty’s politics, but he’s a relative lightweight with no national following and will get eaten alive by Biden in the debates.

I hope McCain has the intelligence to choose Romney over Pawlenty!

He’s a low-key guy who gets things done. Voters (especially independents) like that.

Obama/Biden can talk all they want but Pawlenty has the experience to deliver.

great arguments for him by all

A friend listening to NPR tonight noted that House Minority Leader Marty Seifert called in and reported intense, unusual activity in St. Paul, MN associated with the Governor.

Speculation is what it is…I like to see what McCain says.

That being said… if the speculation on Pawlenty is true…

1. Rombots… don’t act all disappointed, follow the leader and fight like mad to get McCain elected… otherwise… you make Romney look more plastic in his endorsing. Relax… Mitt’s got plenty of fortune to waste in 2012…and he can still let loose those zingers like “two chi-hua-huas” and “… has never run a corner store”

2. Hucksters… get over it… Pawlenty is pro-life…this is someone you can put your “faith” in… he doesn’t make a fool of himself, and isn’t involved in scandals whether directly or indirectly… sounds credible when speaking about complex issues.

3. Fredsters… just keep marchin’ you’re doing great!

4. Political junkies… get over your boredom and do the ‘right’ thing by preventing Obama any way you can…

5. Anyone falling in the other category… there’s future primaries for your VP pick… but let’s face it merit is merit… and I think Pawlenty has earned McCains trust, loyalty, friendship, and ultimately pick.

On a personal note… It would have been fun to see an IQ wonk from upper east coast debate the quintessential 4 faced jack democrat… errr… maybe not… lets face it… attack dog is the only cool part about a VP pick… not to say its the reason you pick a VP… unless you’re The One and you don’t need a VP anyway.

I haven’t been around these parts since the primary, but I distinctly remember Huckabee getting pilloried for far less populist comments than Pawlenty’s “Sam’s Club Republicans”. Furthermore, the guy is further to the left than McCain on cap and trade.

I was a hesitant supporter of McCain for the nomination, but assumed he would have to dip into the wealth of conservative candidates for VP. Is this really the best choice? My evidence is purely anecdotal, but friends I have spoken to in Minnesota are pretty lukewarm on the guy.

Have we, as conservatives, become such litmus test voters that all the guys at the top have to do is give us somebody that is pro-life and reasonably good on income taxes and we are happy? I would hope not. The Republicans party is toast without us. We should demand more and demand better.

Don’t know if you want to trust them or not, but at least people are still guessing. That’s a lot better than Obama’s pick. His was almost certain the whole day leading up.

I’ve seen Giuliani making the rounds, and he can help McCain carry New York and maybe New Jersey and Connecticut as well. If McCain carries NY, the game is over.

Your buddies have already finshed off the keg of patience here at RedState for off-the-wall VP suggestions.

If you head down the hall, you might catch up with them as they head off to find the next party.

I’m affectionally dubbing this ticket Mc/Paw henceforth…

Here’s another reason in my book — Pedal Pubs bill signed by Pawlenty!

Can the McCain/Pawlenty theme song be from Laverne&Shirley?!? (Yes I know L&S were from Wisconson, but close as one gets with Cindy’s beerflow) I like PineBand’s version:

I’m warming to the guy. I’ve done some of my own crack research and aside from his cap-n-trade meshugina, Pawlenty hits about all the right issues.

I would still have preferred Gov. Sarah Palin, for the record.

Some of the quick linked chatter I found around the net, in no particular order:
Nice WSJ piece here
Novak didn’t like him for VP
Pro-Life blogs
LifeNews
Evangelical (former Catholic)
Wiki file
and the MULLET!

again on Intrade. That’s what people get for following empty rumors.

Glad I loaded up at 6.5 last night.

Read into it what you want, but FoxNews has just announced that Romney is in Ohio and Huckabee is NOT going.

Word was all the main guys were going to appear on stage with McCain as he announced his choice. It is no secret the bigot Huckabee HATES Romney and it would likely be impossible for him to stand on stage and congratulate him.

Take it for what it’s worth. Just as good a rumor as the one put forth here.

“If he knew McCain’s decision, Pawlenty gave nothing away when he arrived back at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and, later, as he attended a volleyball game at the high school where one of his daughters is a 10th-grader. Media and onlookers had gathered in front of Pawlenty’s private home in Eagan, a southern St. Paul suburb, as well as at the governor’s mansion in St. Paul.

Pawlenty said he still plans to be at the Minnesota State Fair on Friday, where he’s to do his weekly radio show, and that he had no plans to fly to Ohio.”

Take it for what it’s worth.

CBS announces it is definitely NOT Pawlenty.

Intrade likes Palin or Romney now. I like Romney for experience and guy who can step right in if McCain falters and I like Palin for the excitement factor and to peel off Hillary voters.

Me likely.