Yesterday, Politico reported that the Romney campaign had come to an important strategic decision that basically boiled down to, "Let's take all the really stupid things the McCain campaign did in 2008 and not do them. Not do them HARD!" To wit, rather than pick some untested non-white or non-male running mate, they were going to look for an “incredibly boring white guy.” Well, one person who was included in that intensely ecru mix of possibilities, Tim Pawlenty, says that he won't be that incredibly boring white guy.
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger of the Star-Tribune has the news:
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who once had his sights set on the White House, said Monday that he absolutely is not vying to be vice president.
"I'm going to take my name off the list, so if ... you're a journalist, an observer, remove my name from the list," Pawlenty said. "I went through it before with McCain."
Yes, there was a time when Pawlenty thought he was actually going to be tapped as McCain's Veep, but McCain went with Sarah Palin, and four years later, Pawlenty still needs some time to heal from that heartbreak.
Stassen-Berger continues:
This time around, Pawlenty has been mentioned as a possible contender for Mitt Romney's second-in-command, often followed by a one-word assessment from pundits: "boring."
Actually, I didn't realize that anyone had "mentioned" this until his name showed up in the Politico article, but we'll go with that. I do find it curious to hear that "pundits" had dismissed Pawlenty as "boring" when the other names that have come up as running-mate possibilities -- and we remind you, we're on the hunt for "incredibly boring" people! -- include Rob Portman and Mitch Daniels. I'm left to assume that Pawlenty is the bad kind of "boring," while Portman and Daniels are some sort of awesome version of boring.
At any rate, Pawlenty has officially declined to serve, which is interesting. Perhaps too interesting!
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