Tim Pawlenty....

[Brittain33]

Being an uninteresting default candidate with good geography does not win you a nomination with actual interesting candidates.

[Brittain33]

Completely agree........do you think he'd be a good #2 on a ticket?  I do.  Uninteresting with no baggage and good geography wouldn't hurt for the VP slot

Yeah, he seems solid for that. Should have been in '08.

[Brittain33]

Being an uninteresting default candidate with good geography does not win you a nomination with actual interesting candidates.

Completely agree... but no actual interesting candidates (except Gary Johnson, who'd do utterly fantastic to repeat Paul's showing) are anywhere to be seen.

I'd class Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and of course Sarah Palin as interesting. Not enthralling and certainly not super-popular, but they can keep Pawlenty off the menu.

[Brittain33]

To those who say Pawlenty is not interesting, I'd ask:

Who else can win all the GOP constituencies?

I think that anyone except Palin can count on all GOP constituencies to come home in November 2012. Even Huckabee would get their reluctant support, it's the nature of polarization these days. The question is to what extent people will be enthusiastic. There are concerns that Romney will dim enthusiasm among some cultural conservatives. What I would say is that it's hard to see Pawlenty inspiring enthusiasm among anyone--something other Republican candidates can do. And I don't see him winning over independents on anything but a generic R basis.