For the last few years Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has been a rising star in the Republican Party. Most political pundits had him the consensus pick to be John McCain’s VP candidate in 2008, as Pawlenty hailed from a battleground state and was the national Co-Chair of McCain’s campaign. Why McCain picked Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin over him is a question we do not know, but given the political climate of 2008 it was extremely unlikely that any GOP ticket was going to give the Obama campaign any serious trouble.
If that is the case Pawlenty may have declined an offer to run with the Arizona Senator. Saving himself from the shame of a lost national campaign. This is a lesson Palin is learning now, history does not judge the losers of national campaigns all that well.