With Gov. Pawlenty, MN Could Go GOP in Nov?

Chris Cillizza, author of the Washington Post's Blog "The Fix" has begun a series on states that may flip this November in the presidential race from the way they voted in 2004.

Of the current top ten, as Cillizza sees it, only two fall into the category of states that may go Republican even though they went Democrat in 2004. Minnesota is one of them, should Senator McCain have the foresight and wisdom to choose Governor Pawlenty as his running mate this fall.

The Fix’s Chris Cillizza announced on Friday that he’s going to begin dedicating his Friday Line to rating which states are most likely to flip from red to blue (or vice versa) in the presidential election. In last week’s Line, Cillizza offered his base-Line and predicted that eight of the 10 states most likely to flip were carried by George W. Bush.

9. Minnesota (Kerry 51%) – “If [Republican Gov. Tim] Pawlenty is picked [as McCain’s running mate], Minnesota is in play and could certainly move up the Line.” It’s no surprise the Republicans picked the Twin Cities for their Convention. (excerpted from Cillizza post. Click here to head post in its entirety)

John McCain has a lot of factors to consider when selecting his Vice Presidential running mate. He needs to consider geography (electoral college), loyalty, ideology and demographics. Cillizza is absolutely correct that choosing Pawlenty will help deliver Minnesota (he forgets in this post Iowa and Wisconsin).

We will continue to follow Cillizza and other analysts we Senator McCain moves through his decision making process.