How Pawlenty Can Still Win It

TIME Magazine reports:

...Conservative activists want a political ninja to kickbox his way to the White House. There's a reason a brash loudmouth like Trump was a brief Republican sensation this spring. But that's not Tim Pawlenty, he of the Minnesota-nice demeanor and goofy sense of humor. His appeal is in the middle, not the margin. He's smart, likable and decent and, as the blue collar son of a truck driver, has a powerful American story to tell. He cut taxes and reined in spending in his two terms as governor of Minnesota, proving himself a solid conservative but not a fanatical ideologue. Those credentials have earned him the respect of Republican insiders. But poll after poll shows that he's yet to catch on with voters.

But in a strange way, the stars could be aligning for Pawlenty. It's been said that the 2012 Republican campaign has been a gong show, featuring more dropouts than volunteers. (Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour and Trump have all stepped back in recent weeks, and Sarah Palin is a question mark at best.) After months of uncertainty, the GOP field seems to have congealed around a handful of candidates who could plausibly win the nomination: Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and the consensus front runner, Mitt Romney. "Pawlenty is a very credible candidate for the nomination," says former GOP chairman Ed Gillespie. "I would not be surprised if at the end of the day it comes down to him and somebody else." In an unusually weak 2012 Republican field, it's just possible that Tim Pawlenty will be the last Republican standing.