Plenty Of Problems In Choosing Pawlenty

Speculation about Tim Pawlenty as McCain’s running mate continues, and while he brings many of the things that a VP choice ought to bring (political talent, readiness to govern, influence in a potential swing state, Midwestern Catholic reform governor–think Tommy Thompson, but charismatic) he suffers from some of the same problems with the right that McCain does.  This isn’t entirely surprising (any Republican governing in Minnesota is going to fail some litmus tests), and helps explain why Pawlenty and McCain have become allies, but I’m not sure that Pawlenty would help McCain with the conservatives already put off by McCain.  Some of them are unreachable by McCain, and some of them are hung up on the oddest things (if drug reimportation appears to you to be an evil liberal plot, you are part of a very small minority), but those who can be won over will not necessarily be entirely reassured by Pawlenty.  Someone described as a “little too green” (something that undoubtedly makes him even more of a political asset in the general election) does not help a presidential nominee whose environmental policy views distress many in his party.  It would be an intriguing pick, mainly because he is seen as such a McCain loyalist that he would seem to be the last person McCain would pick, since selecting him doesn’t gain McCain any boost within the party.  Then again, given some of the horrifying or laughable alternatives that have been mentioned, the Republicans could do a lot worse than McCain-Pawlenty.