Candidate - Tim Pawlenty

[Geee]

Pawlenty campaign hits back after Bachmann’s attack

 

The gloves came off Sunday in the conflict between the two Minnesotans vying for the Republican presidential nomination, when Rep. Michele Bachmann made her first attack against former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Pawlenty’s campaign shot back.

 

Bachmann’s campaign released a statement Sunday accusing Pawlenty of bearing responsibility for Minnesota’s budget deficit, supporting big government, cap-and-trade, and the Troubled Asset Relief Program. (Bachmann campaign fires omnibus broadside at Pawlenty)

 

Pawlenty spokesperson Alex Conant issued a response, saying Bachmann was all talk and no substance.

 

Congresswoman Bachmann has her facts wrong. The truth is that there is very little difference between Governor Pawlenty and Congresswoman Bachmann on their issue positions. The difference is that when Governor Pawlenty was scoring conservative victories to cut spending, pass market-based health care reform, and transform a supreme court from liberal to conservative, and was elected twice in a very blue state, Congresswoman Bachmann was giving speeches and offering failed amendments, all while struggling mightily to hold onto the most Republican house seat in the state. In order to beat Barack Obama, Republicans need someone who can unite conservatives with a proven track record of winning conservative results and tough elections — that’s Governor Pawlenty. The Governor looks forward to discussing these issues eye-to-eye with voters in town halls across Iowa next week.

 

Pawlenty has attacked Bachmann’s record before as “non-existent.” He was the first candidate to suggest that Bachmann’s chronic migraine headaches might hinder her ability to serve as president.

 

http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/25/pawlenty-campaign-hits-back-after-bachmanns-attack/

[Rheo]

Tim Pawlenty announced an end to his presidential candidacy Sunday after what he called a "disappointing" third place finish in the Ames, Iowa, straw poll.

 

The former Minnesota governor said he had hoped to get a jolt from the preference poll that is an early indicator of a candidate's potential strength in the primary season.

 

"I'm ending my campaign for president," Pawlenty told ABC's "This Week," noting that he wished the scenario had been different but voters were looking for something else.

 

Pawlenty Drops 2012 Presidential Bid

[Evad]

RINO #2 bites the dirt. (oops, are we allowed to say RINO)

[Saltbag]

I'm not shedding any tears, especially after what I saw last Thursday in Iowa.

[Valin]

Tim Pawlenty announced an end to his presidential candidacy Sunday after what he called a "disappointing" third place finish in the Ames, Iowa, straw poll.

 

The former Minnesota governor said he had hoped to get a jolt from the preference poll that is an early indicator of a candidate's potential strength in the primary season.

 

"I'm ending my campaign for president," Pawlenty told ABC's "This Week," noting that he wished the scenario had been different but voters were looking for something else.

 

Pawlenty Drops 2012 Presidential Bid

 

 

That's to bad. He would've made a good president.

 

Evad

 

He's not a RINO. For waaay to many people on our side RINO means anyone who is center right...that means someone who has an actual shot at winning the presidency.

[Valin]

I'm not shedding any tears, especially after what I saw last Thursday in Iowa.

 

 

What? He questioned Michele Bachmann? Is she someone who cannot be questioned? I really like her a lot, but I question whether she can win.

[clearvision]

I'm not shedding any tears, especially after what I saw last Thursday in Iowa.

 

 

What? He questioned Michele Bachmann? Is she someone who cannot be questioned? I really like her a lot, but I question whether she can win.

 

I don't think she can get close in the primary.

[pollyannaish]

I didn't like what I saw from him last week because he seemed to attack with cheap shots not substance. It wasn't so much that he attacked, it was that he attacked people (Mitt for being rich, Bachmann for just being a member of the house) which made him seem small and unpresidential.

 

As far as the rino label goes. Reagan would be labelled a rino by todays standards so I always look for someone big enough to be the president of his opponents as well as his friends. Contrast President GWBs and RWRs ability to get things accomplished with a mixed government to President Os whining incompetence and then look for people with the uncanny ability to do that. It really takes someone special.

[Valin]

I'm not shedding any tears, especially after what I saw last Thursday in Iowa.

 

 

What? He questioned Michele Bachmann? Is she someone who cannot be questioned? I really like her a lot, but I question whether she can win.

 

I don't think she can get close in the primary.

 

I think she'll have some wins, and collect enough delegates to be a player. But to win the nomination....no, A. she's to conservative (sorry folks that's a fact) B. She's a member of the House..Only one sitting member of the House of Representatives has been elected president James A. Garfield. What concerns me is it may cost her, her House seat.

[Evad]

I'm not shedding any tears, especially after what I saw last Thursday in Iowa.

 

 

What? He questioned Michele Bachmann? Is she someone who cannot be questioned? I really like her a lot, but I question whether she can win.

Sorry Valin!..he didn't question her, he embarrassed himself by attacking her which lost any chance he had of continuing a legitimate campaign. It was a last ditch effort to gain some kind of traction that exposed him for what he is..just another attack dog.

How's the saying go, "Good riddance to bad rubbish".

 

I expect the Ute to be next, then the Noot, then the Suit and then the field will be down to something more manageable.

[Valin]

I'm not shedding any tears, especially after what I saw last Thursday in Iowa.

 

 

What? He questioned Michele Bachmann? Is she someone who cannot be questioned? I really like her a lot, but I question whether she can win.

Sorry Valin!..he didn't question her, he embarrassed himself by attacking her which lost any chance he had of continuing a legitimate campaign. It was a last ditch effort to gain some kind of traction that exposed him for what he is..just another attack dog.

How's the saying go, "Good riddance to bad rubbish".

 

I expect the Ute to be next, then the Noot, then the Suit and then the field will be down to something more manageable.

 

 

She should be immune to attack? In the highly unlikely event that she wins the nomination, what Pawlenty did will seem like a Sunday school picnic.

[Valin]

Power Line: Pawlenty pulls out

Scott Johnson

 

(Snip)

 

Pawlenty is the generic Republican candidate at a time when the generic Republican seems to be what is called for to match up against Obama. Without a national reputation, Pawlenty thought that a strong gubernatorial record in the state next door would prove enough to break through in Iowa and launch him to the top tier of competitors in New Hampshire. He didn’t anticipate the candidacy or impact of Michele Bachmann, the winner of the Iowa straw poll.

 

Bachmann is highly unlikely to secure the Republican presidential nomination, but she derailed Pawlenty’s aspirations. With her Iowa roots and appeal to a conservative base, her moment came around as a presidential candidate in yesterday’s Iowa straw poll. What Howard Dean was to Iowa Democrats in the 2004 cycle and Obama was to Iowa Democrats in the 2008 cycle, Bachmann is to Iowa Republicans in this cycle: the Ivory soap candidate, 99 and 44/100 percent pure.

 

(Snip)

 

But it is too simple to attribute the end of Pawlenty’s campaign entirely to Bachmann and the straw poll. The Pawlenty campaign started its downward descent from the moment he refrained from confronting Mitt Romney — in the first candidates’ debate — with the assault he had leveled against “Obamneycare” on one of the Sunday morning shows when Romney wasn’t in the room. Pawlenty never recovered from that momentary failure of nerve, which is what it appeared to me at the time, though the calculation that went into it probably belies that characterization.

 

Republicans are looking for someone who can stand up to Barack Obama and go toe to toe with him on the national stage. The hunger among Republicans on this score is almost palpable. If Pawlenty couldn’t land a fair punch on Romney to his face — not the cheap shot on the size of Romney’s lawn that he deployed during last week’s debate — one had to doubt that Pawelenty was the guy to face down Obama.

 

(Snip)

[pollyannaish]

I agree with Scott Johnson. He missed an attack on substance the first time out. He should have done that. But he then stupidly followed it up with an snarky attack on Mitt for his wealth and it came across as pathetic. He followed an unforced error with an unforced error.

[Evad]

I agree with Scott Johnson. He missed an attack on substance the first time out. He should have done that. But he then stupidly followed it up with an snarky attack on Mitt for his wealth and it came across as pathetic. He followed an unforced error with an unforced error.

Polly..that's the point.

 

Pawlenty chose to go into full "attack" mode against his fellow republicans. It's not that he attacked Bachmann, or Mitt, or whoever. That part is irrelevant. He chose to attack his fellow pubs and that for me IS against the rules.

 

I expect the RATs to go into the attack mode when it comes to pubbies but I don't expect or accept it from fellow pubbies. We don't need to give the SOBs sound bites that they can use to come back at us. Count me in as a Reagan 11th commandment guy.

 

Pawlenty's behavior was unacceptable, no matter who he directed it toward.

 

I'm glad he's gone.

[Valin]

Hot Air

 

(Snip)Update (Ed): Gary Gross heard MN GOP chair Tony Sutton’s interview on WCCO this morning:

 

What was a busy news morning for Minnesota politics just got hectic. Appearing on Esme Murphy’s program on WCCO-TV this morning, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton said that he will approach Gov. Pawlenty to see if he’s willing to run against Amy Klobuchar. …

 

A Pawlenty-Klobuchar match-up would instantly jump to being the most watched Senate race in the nation for 2012. With Sen. Klobuchar’s vulnerabilities and Gov. Pawlenty’s fundraising abilities, plus his substantial policy chops, Sen. Klobuchar’s best bet is to pray Gov. Pawlenty doesn’t jump into the race.

 

Pawlenty has the best statewide name recognition in the GOP, and a good record of accomplishment as governor. It makes sense for both the state party and for Pawlenty, but he’s got plenty of time to decide.

 

 

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Interesting

[Evad]

PawPaw for senator would be great.

Hope he does it.

[Geee]

The end of a vanilla candidacy - Barone

 

Tim Pawlenty abandoned his presidential candidacy on Sunday morning, after finishing third in the Iowa Republican straw poll, with only about half as many votes as Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul. For the second time in a row, Pawlenty’s ambitions for national office have been stymied by a female candidate who seemingly came out of nowhere to shove him aside. In 2008 he was pretty clearly one of John McCain’s second top choices for vice president, but even as he was preparing to welcome the Republican National Convention to his home town of St. Paul McCain picked Sarah Palin instead. Three or four months ago, Pawlenty seemed the clear favorite to win the straw poll and precinct caucuses in Iowa, next door to his home state of Minnesota, on the basis of a generally conservative record on economic issues as governor and with a conservative record on cultural issues. Iowa wins would have launched him as a serious national candidate, with a real potential to win. But Michele Bachmann, known for casting protest votes in the Minnesota Senate and the U.S. House, made herself into a national celebrity and in two months assembled a solid Iowa organization and pulled off a win that left Pawlenty in the shade.

 

 

 

Pawlenty seems to have suffered the fate of a vanilla candidate, with a record generally acceptable to economic, cultural and national security conservatives, but unable to stir the enthusiasm necessary to win him first choice votes in a state in which his chances on paper seemed better than almost any place else. Pawlenty has many admirable qualities, and having observed him in Minnesota over the years I expected him to do better. But his inclination to ingratiate himself—apparent in his refusal in June to confront Mitt Romney on “Obamaneycare” and in his statement after the Tuscon shootings when Sarah Palin was criticized for a document showing crosshairs on Gabrielle Giffords’s district that he would not have done it that way—made him seem to lack the sense of command voters instinctively seek in a president. He has reason to feel that he has been thrust aside, in ways that almost no one predicted or foresaw, by two female candidates substantially less qualified for national office than he is. But no one is guaranteed a fair shot at the presidency.

 

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/end-vanilla-candidacy