Tim Pawlenty is Running for President

You down with T-Paw, dogg? Image from CBS

Surprise! We're now up to two declared candidates besides Barack Obama who are not batshit crazy, Tim Pawlenty and  Willard "Mitt" Romney. Willard has a couple of issues that may hurt him. Like, he lost last time to Grampa Simpson McCain. And he's a Mormon (not necessarily casting aspersions, but I know it's an issue with "the base"). Aaaaaand, there's Romneycare, that suspiciously like Obamacare thingybobber he passed in Massachusetts. TPaw doesn't seem to have those major flaws, but he has the charisma of a bar of (unscented) bath soap, and has made at least one embarrassing attempt to go all gangsta (for a white guy) to toughen his image.

But up against the crazies like Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and others (none of whom have thrown down yet), and the unappealing like Newt Gingrich, TPaw's only real competition is Mittens and maybe Mike Huckabee. Huckabee has the disturbing ability to make extreme things sound almost reasonable, so I'm worried about him. I'm not so worried about Pawlenty, except that he's so mild, he might just win.

[Excerpt]

Pawlenty says 'I'm running;" campaign downplays it



Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty may be running for president, but he's not ready to be official about it.



Pawlenty moved quickly Tuesday to knock down a CNN story that appeared to show him officially entering the race.

During an airing of Piers Morgan Tonight, taped earlier in the day, the talk show host remarked on Pawlenty's low standing in early polls. He asked if Pawlenty would consider being real estate tycoon Donald Trump's No. 2 on a ticket. The former governor laughed and responded, "I'm running for president. . ."

Read more at: CBS News