T-Paw Withdrawal

Been on the road today, with children, so didn't get a chance to comment on the one slightly delayed casualty of Saturday's straw poll festivus, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. He dropped out of the GOP race this morning.

The beepety beep from his announcement alert on my phone was my wake up call. Call it quits a little later, will ya?

Someone this past week compared the straw poll to the Death Star. But it reminds me of those old TV commercials for roach motels. Some candidates go in but they don't come out. Pawlenty didn't make it.

I was reminded of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who was first into the 2008 Democratic primary race, was just sure an experienced-but-not-exciting two-term Midwestern governor was exactly what his party was looking for. Then it became clear bigger names were drawing all the support and bucks, so Vilsack, like Pawlenty, decided to call it quits before a single real vote had been cast by anyone. Both suffered from the "boring" label.

But I think Pawlenty's real problem was that he actually governed a bluish swing state for eight years. Big mistake.

That meant having to address problems and find solutions on health care and the environment and the threat of climate change. He tried to steer those issue in his direction, certainly, but he also had to forge compromises and balance budgets with Democrats, even raise the tax on smokes, even if he doesn't want to call it that.

But most of the folks who gathered in Ames Saturday were not looking for someone with experience governing anything.

They wanted someone who can lead a protest movement on the march. They're not interested in building coalitions, they're looking for someone to lead the dismantling, razing, repealing and attacking. They don't want a building manager, they want a wrecking crew.

Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul fit that definition. Outrage to burn. Accomplishments? Well, they sure fire up supporters, get loud applause and win straw polls.

Pawlenty tried to prove his tea party credentials. But instead of angry tea, he was really more like Grain Belt Premium, the Friendly Beer.

Mitt Romney is trying to do the same tap dance Pawlety failed to master, only he's doing it on top of a big pile of money, which is helpful. Romney actually governed blue Massachusetts and had the audacity to find a way to provide health care coverage to everyone in his state. Big mistake.  He should have just said "we need tort reform" over and over again.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is in Iowa as I type, may also at some point regret governing, although Texas is not Minn. or Mass. And Perry has pulpit cred, which acts like a force-field against charges of squishy RINOism. Or so I've heard. We'll see.

So farewell T-Paw. Follow the haunting call of the loon back home. Or I-35. Whichever.