Tim Pawlenty: "Emerging Issues"

"So, who's McCain going to pick as his VP?"

We're getting that a lot these days. From everybody.

So here's our plain and simple answer: We have no idea. The last time that anyone in the high levels of Team McCain talked to us about that was never. So we don't know jack. Or jill.

But - and there is always a but with us - we like Tim Pawlenty for the pick. Always have.

Noted: We also like Johnny Mac to pick a Democrat/Independent for the slot as well. To put up "the political deep ball". And explode the heads of the chattering class. But that's a story for another day.

Anyway, the only knock on the Minnesota Governor seems to be that he is too young and no one has heard of him. We "snort" at that.

The American Hero has more experience, gravitas and name ID in his two pinkie fingers than most politicians have in their whole body when they die at 104. In other words, the descriptions "youthful" and "less experienced" before the name of McCain's VP pick shouldn't be a negative.

In fact, in this year and in this environment, we think that those words should only be a positive (for goodness sakes, look who's running - very strongly - against McCain on the other side).

But, most importantly, Governor Pawlenty "gets it" - Tim Pawlenty understands that the GOP must modernize, that the Republicans can no longer be a white male cul-de-sac party and survive.

And what Pawlenty told the Washington Times today is the exact same thing he told us almost 16 months ago:



Tim Pawlenty on the ticket in 2008 could go a very looong way towards modernizing (and strengthening) the Republican Party.

To put it another way, Pawlenty on the ticket stands for "SAFE Change", which couples beautifully with how Johnny Mac is (or should be) portraying himself in this change election environment.

And John McCain knows that.

Which is the big reason why we like Tim Pawlenty so much as his pick.