Minn. government shutdown puts T-Paw in spotlight

Politico reports:

Finally, America is paying attention to Tim Pawlenty.

The underdog presidential candidate has spent more than a year trying to gin up interest among Republican primary voters, so far with little to show for it. Now, Pawlenty’s home-state budget crisis has won him the kind of national spotlight that he has rarely earned on his own.

It’s a potential make-or-break moment for the former two-term governor, who has faced mounting questions in recent weeks about whether he’ll catch on in a GOP field that features flashier and better-known candidates. Pawlenty’s poll numbers continue to languish in the low single digits and his campaign announced Friday that it raised only a modest $4.2 million in the second quarter of the year.

The most valuable asset Pawlenty has left is his reputation as a solidly conservative governor who balanced budgets without raising taxes. Now, that reputation is drawing new scrutiny amid the spending showdown in St. Paul.

Pawlenty advisers contend that the shutdown will allow Pawlenty to highlight his record of holding the line on spending in a liberal state, contrasting that with the approach of his successor, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, as well as President Barack Obama.

“One of the challenges for Gov. Pawlenty so far has been that the country’s just not familiar with his record in Minnesota. He did not govern in Minnesota under the national media’s spotlight,” said Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant. “The more we discuss his record and the more that the national press looks into his record, the better off we are, because it’s a great story to tell.”