WALLY'S GOTTA BEEF:

‘Sam’s Club’ Republican Pawlenty Bids for 2012 (Albert R. Hunt , 8/30/09, Bloomberg)

[Tim Pawlenty] has built a reputation as a blue-collar conservative -- his dad was a truck driver, and associates say he’s much more comfortable hunting or fishing with his pals than hobnobbing with the rich and powerful. He advocates a more modern, inclusive Republican Party -- a “party of Sam’s Club, not just the country club” -- that stresses lower taxes and entrepreneurial initiatives while eschewing divisive and exclusive politics and policies.

He wants to run for president in 2012 and this fall will establish a federal political action committee to finance trips around the country. He’ll then have to start spending more time with wealthy donors as well as grassroots Republicans.

Although a big-tent Republican, he has impeccable conservative credentials. He is an evangelical Christian and has been happily married for 22 years to the same spouse, who even Democrats say is a political asset. He is consistently anti- abortion, pro-gun on the Second Amendment and against gay marriage.

He brings an almost Jack Kemp-like fervor to cutting marginal tax rates; an important predicate for any presidential run may be how Pawlenty handles a recommendation from a task force he appointed that the state replace some corporate and individual taxes with consumption levies.

His emphasis on taxes rankles many Minnesota Democrats. “There is a long line of progressive Republican governors in Minnesota who are big supporters of education,” says Walter Mondale, the former vice president and U.S. senator. “He is much more interested in tax-cutting and has broken with that tradition.”

The GOP has an embarrassment of riches for 2012.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 31, 2009 2:18 PM