Pawlenty brushes aside online presidential buzz

Cannon Falls, MN. -- Before he spoke to a chamber of commerce crowd Thursday at Cannon Falls High School, Governor Tim Pawlenty pushed the lectern closer to the front of the stage so he could see the crowd better.

On the same day political junkies got a closer look at Minnesota's second-term governor, as the online Drudge Report topped the page with a photo of Pawlenty and the question, "CAN THIS MAN TOPPLE OBAMA?" 

The governor reacted with it patented lack of reaction to media buzz.

"There's always endless commentary, speculation, theories," Gov. Pawlenty told reporters, "I just get up each morning, try to do my job, try to help out the best I can advancing my cause, my principles and my ideas."

The Drudge Report cover provided a link to a Jonathan Martin story in Politico.com detailing Pawlenty's maneuvers in Washington D.C. to assemble a team of national advisers, including some of the same strategists who helped George W. Bush win reelection in 2004. Among them is Alex Conant, a native Minnesotan, who worked for the Republican National Committee and Senator John McCain's campaign.

"These are individuals in most cases I have known," Pawlenty explained, "I'm honored and pleased they have joined the team. They bring a lot of experience, wisdom and talent to the effort."

Team? Effort? If anyone thought he was going to announce a 2012 presidential run in Cannon Falls two years too early, they were going to be disappointed.   The effort, at least on the face of it, is Pawlenty's new national political action committee. He said many of those who've come on board are doing so on a voluntary basis.

On Thursday he also formally filed the paperwork to create the Freedom First PAC.   It will be used to raise money for like-minded Republican candidates.  As the governor repeated three times to the reporters pressing him Thursday, the PAC can't be used to directly fund his own presidential run if that occurs.

"This PAC, both legally and practically, is not geared toward me running for president. It can't be," he said, "And I don't know what I'm going to be doing a few years from now. I might still be in politics, but I might also be in the private sector."

The Democratic National Committee released a web video Thursday in reaction to Pawlenty's new PAC entitled "More of the Same," and criticized his decision to used experienced hands to build his new organization.

"Talk about back to the future," the statement attributed to DNC press secretary Hari Sevugan read, "Recycling advisers form George W. Bush and relying on Washington insiders and lobbyists has to be utterly disappointing for those who thought Tim Pawlenty would bring a fresh approach to the Republican Party." 

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