Bloggosphere Abuzz With Pawlenty for Veep Talk

The term "conventional wisdom" may be just a bit premature with reference to the idea that Senator McCain should choose Governor Pawlenty as his Vice-Presidential running mate, but the bloggosphere and even the mainstream media is certainly abuzz with discussion of all the reasons it is the perfect fit (oddly enough, many pundits and analysts seem to agree with our T-Paw Top Ten)

Aside from a healthy discussion of this topic on today's "Meet the Press" here is a small sample of some of the discussion from around the bloggosphere.

Steadfast McCain ally sparks veep talk (Jonathan Martin, Politico)

Even through the McCain campaign’s darkest days in 2007, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty remained a steadfast ally to the Arizona senator in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Vin Weber, a Minnesota congressman-turned-Washington-lobbyist who is one of Pawlenty’s biggest boosters, ticks off the list of appealing traits.

“First of all, his age is attractive,” Weber says, hinting at the nearly quarter-century difference between his fellow Minnesotan and the 71-year-old McCain. “Second, he’s from outside Washington. Third, he represents a battleground part of the country. And he has a nice balance of, on one hand being totally acceptable to the conservative wing of the party, especially to social conservatives, but at the same time sharing a couple of key maverick strains of thought with McCain.”

Weber isn't Pawlenty's only Washington admirer. Sara Taylor, former White House political director and a veteran of both Bush-Cheney campaigns, contacted this reporter to offer unsolicited observations on the governor.

Declining to say how she got wind of the story, Taylor lavished praise on Pawlenty. "By far, he's the strongest candidate" to serve as McCain's running mate, she said.

"He's a conservative, rock-n-roll Republican and is counterintuitive to the party stereotype that we're old and rich,” says Taylor, who recalled visiting St. Paul and finding the governor jamming in his office to recording artist Bruce Springsteen. “He's young and blue-collar."

And, Taylor said, in a potential race against the 46-year-old Barack Obama, Pawlenty would be "as good as our party has for that [matchup]."

There is another key factor working in Pawlenty’s favor. Unlike Weber, until last week a top policy adviser to Mitt Romney, the governor was an early and active McCain supporter, helping to lobby fellow governors as early as December 2006, and he stayed loyal through the unpleasantness last year.

“He stuck with us through thin,” says senior McCain adviser Charlie Black. “He went anywhere we asked and did anything we asked him to do.

“He is a rising star in the party,” adds Black. (Excerpts from article. Click here to read in its entirety).

Governor Tim Pawlenty- The Right man for VP

Many news sources are reporting that Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is near the top of most of Senator John McCain’s lists for Vice President of the United States. I am one person who thinks that he should be at the very top of all
of those lists.

I became a fan of Governor Pawlenty last year when I had the opportunity to see him speak at CPAC. At that time I did not know much about him other than he was the Republican Governor of Minnesota and a steadfast supporter of my candidate for President Senator John McCain. I was impressed by his articulate speech and ideas for the Republican party.

After coming home from the convention I took the time to look into Pawlenty’s past and learned that he came from a working class background and was the first in his family to go to college. Pawlenty did not rely on anyone but himself to make himself someone, which is one of things I think is a fundemental Republican principle. When many people think of Republicans they think of country club rich people, but that mold most certainly does not fit Pawlenty who still from time to time plays pick up ice hockey.

So Pawlenty is young, smart, energetic, charasmatic, and conservative. It is for these and many more reasons that I hope that Senator John McCain chooses Governor Tim Pawlenty to be his running mate in this crucial election. I urge my fellow Republicans to do some research on Governor Pawlenty and i believe as well you will become a supporter of his too. (Excerpts from Article. Click here to read in its entirety).

And there is so much more.

We'll continue to track this developing story of bloggers and Conservatives all across the country beginning to advocate form Governor Pawlenty to be chosen as Senator McCain's running mate this fall.