Pawlenty Looks to Boost National Profile

A new book deal and the continuting controversy over a recent Minnesota Supreme Court ruling striking down his budget cuts, should help cure Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty of his low national recognition.

Pawlenty is among the least known of Republicans angling for his party's presidential nomination in 2012. He estimates that 75 percent of the GOP has no idea who he is. But he exhibits the confidence of a man holding at least a few aces.

So wrote Michael Gerson in his profile of Governor Tim Pawlenty in yesterday’s Washington Post titled Tim Pawlenty:  Minnesota’s Ronald Reagan? Gerson’s piece is another block laid on the national image Pawlenty is trying to build for himself.  Gerson’s piece focused on what are arguably Pawlenty’s two strongest suits, his record managing Minnesota’s budget, and his personal story.  The timing of Gerson’s piece seemed especially appropriate, given two big announcements concerning the Governor in the past couple of days.

One, concerning the budget, is that Wednesday Minnesota’s Supreme Court voted that Pawlenty exceeded his authority through his unilateral “unallotment” of $2.7 billion in spending from the Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL) dominated legislature’s proposed two year budget.  In response Pawlenty was defiant, remarking that “I strongly disagree with this 4-3 decision by the court. Nonetheless it will require the legislature and my administration to address its budget impacts. The funds do not exist to reinstate my unallotments and the state budget needs to be balanced without raising taxes.”  This setback is an opportunity for Pawlenty to draw national attention as he enters a sure-to-be bitter battle with his DFL legislature over spending cuts versus tax hikes.

Two, concerning his life story, is the this week’s announcement that Pawlenty has signed a deal with evangelical literary agent Alive Communications and Tyndale House Publishing to write his memoir.  Interestingly, according to the Minnesota Independent, Alive Communications is the agent for Sarah Palin and her book Going Rogue, and has represented Billy Graham and works by the Promise Keepers.  The book will be an authentic tale of personal transformation and the American success story, especially appealing to evangelicals, but if written well, a much wider national audience.

With a book deal in hand Pawlenty is poised to make a serious national push next year.  Furthermore, as the EU debt meltdown progresses and domestic attention continues to focus on our own coming debt crisis, Pawlenty may be the ‘man of destiny’ for a GOP searching hard for lost credibility.  But, as Gerson asks, can Pawlenty and his “disarming, beer-sharing niceness” get in front of a party marked by anger, and a Tea Party exploding with it?  The answer is it’s his only choice.  As funny as his CPAC speech “take a 9-iron and smash the window out of big government” just like Tiger’s wife comment was, Pawlenty does not excel at whipping the crowd into a mouth-foaming frenzy.  He instead thrives on optimistic confidence backed up by a strong record and a firm backbone.  One must, I suppose, hope that as 2012 draws near angry tea partiers and debt conscious conservatives will take a sober look at their options for leadership, and find Pawlenty.  But, then again, they may continue to dump their tea and drink it too.