McCain in Minnesota

Mary Lahammer — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:23:17 -0600

John McCain is increasing his presence in Minnesota. The campaign is moving a staffer from Iowa to Minnesota. They are working on getting an office in the state now too. No word yet if McCain has a visit planned. This new staffer will be around through Tsunami Tuesday. Gov. Pawlenty has indicated that with non-binding delegates and limited time and money McCain is unlikely to make an appearance here any time soon.

Now the buzz keeps growing about a Mac-TPaw ticket. I've been digging on this story a bit and hope to have something interesting to report by Friday's Almanac. The tough part is Pawlenty's repeated vows to complete his term as governor. I've been going through our archives and remembered when he announced for governor in the summer of 2006, he first said he "anticipated" serving all four years, then when pressed he said he "planned" to serve four years and finally when we kept pushing he said he "will" serve four years, if re-elected. The buzz is spreading again. Pawlenty made the photo with McCain featured in today's Washington Post story, along with a ton of other national publications. Here's what a Philly newspaper recently wrote about possible VPs for McCain:

There's old McCain favorites like U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is probably out of it because he faces a tough primary re-election, since he has become too moderate for his party's right wing.

And new favorites like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty., a moderate conservation and energy-reform Republican, who is the darling of the conservative press.