The case for Pawlenty

Official photo of Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN).Image via Wikipedia
George Will:

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... In the four decades before Pawlenty was elected governor in 2002, the average two-year increase in state spending was 21 percent. During his tenure, the average annual increase has been 2 percent. He says that the current two-year budget cycle will be the first in 150 years in which spending will be cut in real, constant dollars.

It took, he said, "World War III" with the teachers unions to make Minnesota the first state to offer performance pay for teachers statewide. The state is second in the nation in health savings accounts: Approximately 10 percent of privately insured Minnesotans have these tax-preferred savings accounts that enable them to shop for routine health needs not covered by high-deductible insurance plans.

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Pawlenty dismisses the Obama administration's stimulus as "mostly government sustenance money." He would have preferred a cut in payroll taxes. Actually, giving the nation a one-year holiday from federal payroll taxes would have been no more expensive and more stimulative than Obama's stimulus.

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His mild manner seems to appeal to some jalapeño-flavored conservatives. A new biography of Rush Limbaugh says that, so far, Pawlenty is second only to Sarah Palin as Limbaugh's choice for 2012. Dick Armey -- the former Texas congressman who became majority leader when Republicans took control of the House in 1994 -- is about as close to a leader of the Tea Party movement as its agreeable anarchy permits. He has his "eye on Pawlenty," who is on the "safest ground" of any potential candidate: "He has no major disappointments behind him."

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He may be tall, but he is a little short in the charisma department. I think he would be OK, but he does not excite me that much. He is clearly smarter than Obama and would make a better President.

My current preference is probably Sarah Palin. She has the ability to make all the right people angry while exciting the Republican base. At this point they both have maybe a one in five chance of getting the nomination, but they have plenty of time to change that number.
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