Pawlenty’s troubles
By A.B. Stoddard
The Hill
06/29/11 06:06 PM ET
In this week alone, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has pulled to the front of the GOP presidential field and is now not only favored to win the Ames Straw Poll in August and the caucuses in January, but is gaining in New Hampshire as well. Sarah Palin continued flirting by flying into Iowa for a movie about — who else? — herself, and was met with the usual adoring throngs in addition to the media scrum scraping for hints she might still decide on an actual presidential campaign, instead of the virtual one she has patented on a bus tour, book tours and Twitter.
Meanwhile, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) gave a major foreign-policy address on Tuesday, blasting President Obama for being “timid, slow and too often without a clear understanding of our interests” while warning isolationist Republicans, “America already has one political party devoted to decline, retrenchment and withdrawal. It does not need a second one.”
(Continued here.)
The Hill
06/29/11 06:06 PM ET
In this week alone, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has pulled to the front of the GOP presidential field and is now not only favored to win the Ames Straw Poll in August and the caucuses in January, but is gaining in New Hampshire as well. Sarah Palin continued flirting by flying into Iowa for a movie about — who else? — herself, and was met with the usual adoring throngs in addition to the media scrum scraping for hints she might still decide on an actual presidential campaign, instead of the virtual one she has patented on a bus tour, book tours and Twitter.
Meanwhile, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) gave a major foreign-policy address on Tuesday, blasting President Obama for being “timid, slow and too often without a clear understanding of our interests” while warning isolationist Republicans, “America already has one political party devoted to decline, retrenchment and withdrawal. It does not need a second one.”
(Continued here.)
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2 Comments:
Zinger-of-the-Day : Many Republicans now wonder if Pawlenty is, as he described Obama, “timid, slow and too often without a clear understanding of our interests.”
IMO, Bachmann is riding the “Trump-wave” … remember when “the Donald” was the Flavor-of-the-day and leading the polls in mid-April. At that time, if you look at the field with Huckabee, Palin, and Trump all out of the mix you end up with a showdown between Romney and Gingrich. Romney gets 25% to 23% for Gingrich, 13% for Paul, 10% for Pawlenty, 8% for Bachmann, and 4% for Barbour.
So, with Gingrich faltering and Romney staying roughly where he is, does it indicate that a large group of Republicans really are searching for a candidate … and Pawlenty just doesn’t inspire them … he’s fading.
That said, who would you bet on to make the next big blunder ? Romney, Bachmann or Pawlenty ? As such, Pawlenty is still my “soon-to-be-President” choice.
The great question asked is : Who are the 7% that are still supporting Gingrich and how soft is their support ? Will those poll-respondents actually go to a neighbor’s house on a cold February evening and caucus for Gingrich or quickly switch to Pawlenty (or Bachmann) ?
I think Bachmann's appeal is that people don't have to guess where she stands on an issue. Another Minnesota I thought had that component was Senator Wellstone. That characteristic HAS appeal. I voted for Wellstone in 1990 because of that.
People like Romney and Pawlenty who play both sides of the issue turn people off. I hate Pawlenty's measured words trying like hell not to offend anyone. Bachmann - love her or hate her - isn't going to sit on the fence on an issue or play it both ways just to curry favor with voting blocs. With Bachmann, you know what you are getting and you won't have to wonder if she wins the nomination whether or not she will change her positions on the issues.
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