Pawlenty campaigns for McCain on national T.V.

Governor Tim Pawlenty appeared on national television Sunday to campaign for Sen. John McCain.

Pawlenty is in Washington, D.C. this weekend for the National Governors Association meeting. Pawlenty is the group's chairman. He's also the national co-chair for McCain's campaign.

Appearing on CNN's "Late Edition," the Minnesota governor publicly criticized a New York Times article suggesting McCain had an improper relationship with a lobbyist.

"It's one of the worst pieces of journalism I've seen in recent times," Pawlenty said. "Journalism by insinuation."

In an article published Sunday, the New York Times ombudsman also criticized parts of the story because there was no proof McCain had a romance with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

"The article was notable for what it did not say," public editor Clark Hoyte wrote. "It did not say what convinced the advisers that there was a romance.

"It did not make clear what McCain was admitting when he acknowledged behaving inappropriately -- an affair or just an association with a lobbyist that could look bad."

Hoyt added that "without the sex, the Times was on to a good story."

Meantime, Pawlenty also answered questions about whether he would be McCain's running mate.

"I don't need a day job. I have one. I'm focused on being governor of Minnesota," Pawlenty said. "There's gonna be a lot of great choices that he'll have to pick from. And he's not even thinking about that right now."

The "National Review" magazine recently polled some GOP power players on who will be McCain's running mate. Pawlenty led the pack.

But other governors have also been discussed as potential running mates for McCain, including Charlie Frist of Florida, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Jon Huntsman, Jr. of Utah and Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

Check out our KARE family of Web sites:
	takeKARE		Metromix
	Moms Like Me		Minnesota Bound
	Showcase Minnesota