I had high hopes for Tim Pawlenty. Besides the fact that he was a conservative governor of a mid-western state that traditionally is about as liberal as my own deep blue state of Maryland, he actually put out policy ideas that made sense and articulated them well enough to get and keep my attention.
Unfortunately, as we have seen time and time again, presidential politics is not about making sense or telling people the truth, most often the winner of the competition is the person who can give more fluff than substance. Simply put, while Pawlenty definitely has the brain that the straw man searched for in the Wizard of Oz, he has not found the mechanism to start the hearts of the potential Republican primary voters.
I do not think Pawlenty’s campaign will make it through the end of the year. It’s a shame but all light and no heat makes for a failed presidential candidate.
For me, the interesting question is if the Tea Party segment of the Republican Party will choose a social conservative / fiscally responsible candidate that may have a chance of winning the electoral college or if they will help to choose a nominee who will lose in November and give us four more years of the current president whose leadership attempt has proven to be ill-equipped and unproductive.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.