Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

-Minnesota Governor and Republican VP-hopeful Timothy Pawlenty after speaking at Minnesota’s GOP state convention.

By Carlyn Reichel

In an early-morning speech to the GOP state convention in Rochester, Minnesota Governor and potential McCain running mate Tim Pawlenty performed exactly the way a VP-hopeful would be expected to behave. Short on policy, long on rhetoric, Pawlenty waited until the end of his speech to issue a call for party unity and unfailing support for “my good friend John McCain.” Though he did not directly address the Veepstakes rumor mill, he urged members to get past the “gum flapping in politics” and look to McCain’s lifetime of service. Pawlenty drew the focus to McCain’s years as a political prisoner in Hanoi rather than policy, reminding the assembled delegates that, “the best sermons aren’t preached but lived,” while hitting the surefire crowd-pleasers of lower taxes, more efficient government spending and ensuring conservative Supreme Court appointments.

Unsurprisingly, the fastest way to unify this crowd, many of whom have openly expressed reservations about McCain’s conservative credentials, is to drop the Obama-bomb. “No matter what our differences,” Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty cautioned, “they don’t compare to what we’ll get if Barack Obama is president.”

Pawlenty’s speech also stressed the need for the party to return to the “playbook of Ronald Reagan,” and for Republicans to do a better job of conveying their key messages in a positive, hopeful way. Echoing his previous statements labeling Republicans as the “marketplace party,” he reminded delegates that the 2006 elections were a strong market signal to the GOP and positioned the party as an underdog in 2008. According to Pawlenty, the main hurdle Minnesota Republicans are facing this cycle is a marketing problem: conveying conservative values to Minnesotans who perceive the Republican Party as being against the working man while running against opponents (the DFL) who claim to be “giving away ‘free stuff’” (government programs).