Almanac: At the Capitol

Gov. Pawlenty seemed calm even glad today at the State Fair, despite hanging out with some scary snakes and responding to word in Time that Mitt Romney is McCain's pick.  He praised Romney when asked by reporters.  He also said he planned on being back to do his radio show next week on the very day McCain is set to name his VP.  Mondale & Jones & I talked with Mrs. Mary Pawlenty on WCCO this morning and she said life has been busy but still pretty normal.  When I pressed if she really thought a guy named Timmy she met in law school would put her on the front page of the New York Times, she admitted she didn't think that would ever happen. 

The other topic I'm tackling in my Campaign Notebook this week, is the first debate for the Third District.  All the candidates seem to hold their own.  Madia went after Paulsen for voting against transportation funding after the bridge collapse.  Paulsen defended voting again tax increases and disagreed with his leadership's decision to discipline the Override 6.  Much more on our air tonight.  And don't forget to check our website for daily web reports, David Gillette essays and my blogs from the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Less than two days after winning Minnesota's caucuses Mitt Romney is out of the race for president. There was a rumor that Pawlenty was there at the Conservative Political Action Conference. What is true is that Pawlenty is in Washington, what apparently isn't true is that he was with John McCain at CPAC. The governor's office confirmed he's raising money for the Republican National Convention later this year, which doesn't hurt his standing in the party or place with McCain who most are saying has sealed the nomination for president.

Pawlenty has said he won't announce whether he's running for governor until after the session ends in spring. Still, nearly every person who stops by my Capitol office wants to know if there's "legs" to Pawlenty for VP. Many people around the Capitol say the governor is relishing the campaigning and national scene. But that could make him vulnerable to claims of being too ambitious and ignoring the state. When I talked with him last week about presidential politics he was incredibly engaged and chatty on the topic. Who wouldn't want to be a player in the most exciting presidential campaign in a generation?

The DFL just sent out this tough press release on the VP topic:

This memorandum makes the case for Governor Tim Pawlenty as Senator McCain’s running mate. Highlights include:

• Pawlenty was unable to carry Minnesota for his endorsed candidate at GOP precinct caucuses, while DFL caucus turnout dwarfed Republican turnout by close to a factor of four.
• Minnesotans are indifferent at best to Pawlenty’s potential presence on the national Republican ticket.
• While governor, Pawlenty has watched his party lose a net 43 Republican legislative seats, and has been unable or unwilling to keep his own party in line.
• With economic issues rising to the forefront of voters’ concerns nationally, Pawlenty has presided over dramatic job losses and Minnesota’s slide into recession.

The day after the New Hampshire primary, every politician on the face of the earth has scheduled a press conference for the exact same time in Minnesota. Really. At 10:30 this morning Clinton, Obama, Romney and Pawlenty all have media availabilities scheduled. It's crazy. Most Capitol news bureaus have about two people, who can't be in four places at one time. It seems none of the campaigns are paying attention to each other. We've been frenetically calling and trying to get someone to reschedule. It's symbolic of the push for press coverage. We'll see how the day shakes out...

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses Clinton's campaign took some time to pay attention to Minnesota. Her campaign chair and political director held a conference call with local reporters to "discuss campaign's momentum and grassroots support in Minnesota." They're predicting a record turn-out in Iowa and then their attention switches to a host of other states, especially places like Minnesota, which is part of SuperDuperTuesday Feb. 5th. By then half of the delegates will be chosen. Clinton's people say they're running a national campaign, not picking one or two states (subtle shot at opponents). Clinton is launching an "aggressive phone bank operation" in Minnesota to boost turn out here, which they're viewing as one of the "larger delegate counts" on that key date. Mr. or Mrs. Clinton plan to visit the state, but the campaign doesn't have any details yet.

Clinton should finish in the key top three, but the highest-regarded poll from the Des Moines Register has Obama with a true lead. Huckabee's surge also showed up in that poll with Romney in second like Clinton. My advice when trying to read polls is to look at trends rather than just who has what number. Obama and Huckabee are trending up, but it'll be a close race. Eric Black has a great backgrounder on MinnPost. New Hampshire will be an entirely different game and a state that looks a lot more like Minnesota with its independent streak. Apparently, that's why Gov. Pawlenty is spending time and getting noticed as he stumps for McCain. The Republican Senator's resurgence there is interesting and it's interesting that Pawlenty hasn't bailed from his longtime friend's fledgling campaign.