Does VP T-Paw Put McCain Over the Top?

Minnesota, along with the Electoral Vote-rich MinneWisowa upper Midwest region, remain a key battle ground this presidential election cycle.

New polls just released indicate that Governor Pawlenty is best positioned, among the most often mentioned on the short list, to put McCain over the top in Minnesota. (Click here to read poll results)

And he is the ONLY potential VP tested who gets McCain outside of the margin of error in our state which has not gone Republican since 1972. This should raise eyebrows and get people excited throughout the McCain campaign structure. The election map this cycle is turning conventional wisdom on its head, and the prospect of McCain winning this region changes the dynamic even further.


There are a variety of reasons Pawlenty would make such a strong Vice-Presidential nominee aside from his ability to deliver this block of electoral votes. Many of these reasons shined through during the Governor's speech to the State Republican Convention last weekend in Rochester Minnesota.

Wearing his freshly risen national profile lightly, Gov. Tim Pawlenty strode onto the stage of the GOP state convention like the old friend you know who has suddenly become a superstar. In marked contrast to Friday's friction at the convention, Pawlenty offered weary delegates a message of hope and optimism on Saturday that carried echoes of a reverse-field Barack Obama.

"People need something future-leaning, forward, positive and hopeful," Pawlenty said. "That needs to be the tone and tenor of our party. ... People want to be part of something exciting, positive, meaningful."

The challenge, he said, will be in besting a party that can base its appeal on something for nothing.

"We have a higher burden because we're running against people giving away free stuff. You got a problem, we got a program. It's hard to compete against a competitor that gives away free stuff. You and I know it's not free." (Excerpted From Article)

Aside from being absolutely right on taxes, spending, communisms destructive nature, the size of government and a whole host of other reasons, Ronald Reagan was successful because people believed in him. He was an optimistic voice who articulated difficult issues in a positive, visionary tone. When Liberals offered "free stuff," Reagan reminded people that the "free stuff" is expensive, and more often than not makes the recipients of the "free stuff" un-free.

Governor Pawlenty has that quality, and his background and blue-collar roots give him a level of credibility on issues of the pocketbook and issues of the heart that the media tries to take away from most Conservatives.

We are in a place in history not all that unfamiliar. The Left in this country searches night and day to find a cloud in every silver lining. This is true whether we are discussing national security, the economy, or virtually any other important public policy issue of the day.

It is this eternal pessimism among the Left that allows Conservatives like Governor Pawlenty to break through the clutter and help ensure that the message of "free stuff" doesn't win the day.

So back to the polling.

Where people know Governor Pawlenty, they like him. Automatically.

It just so happens that one of the states in one of the regions that Senator McCain desperately needs to win, is a state in a region that already knows Governor Pawlenty.

And now the numbers show definitively that the electoral map shifts with Governor Pawlenty on the team.

Makes you wonder where else our Sam's Club Republican Governor might help McCain this November (Michigan? Ohio? Pennsylvania?). . .