Kick Saves in St. Paul

GROWING up in Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty played a lot of hockey. “I was mostly on defense,” he says. Today, as the state’s Republican governor, he still skates in pick-up games. Around lunchtime on Fridays in the winter, he’s often at a rink. Back at his desk in St. Paul, however, he sometimes feels like a heavily padded goaltender, kicking away bills passed by the Democrats who dominate the statehouse: He vetoed 34 of them in this year’s completed session. “I have strapped on the political goalie equipment,” he said on May 31 at the state GOP convention in Rochester. Then he flashed the red pen that he uses to halt legislation. The partisan crowd acted as if it had just watched Pawlenty make a diving save in sudden-death overtime.

Not all Americans pay as much attention to hockey as Minnesotans, but Republicans around the country have started to take notice of Pawlenty. He has won two gubernatorial elections in a famously liberal state as a self-proclaimed conservative. Just about everyone assumes he’s on John McCain’s vice-presidential short list. For a party that’s looking for new ways to attract voters, Republicans could do a lot worse than this tall and lanky 47-year-old. Even so, Pawlenty can’t quite shake off suspicions about his political principles.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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GROWING up in Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty played a lot of hockey. “I was mostly on defense,” he says. Today, as the state’s Republican governor, he still skates in pick-up games. Around lunchtime on Fridays in the winter, he’s often at a rink. Back at his desk in St. Paul, however, he sometimes feels like a heavily padded goaltender, kicking away bills passed by the Democrats who dominate the statehouse: He vetoed 34 of them in this year’s completed session. “I have strapped on the political goalie equipment,” he said on May 31 at the state GOP convention in Rochester. Then he flashed the red pen that he uses to halt legislation. The partisan crowd acted as if it had just watched Pawlenty make a diving save in sudden-death overtime.

Not all Americans pay as much attention to hockey as Minnesotans, but Republicans around the country have started to take notice of Pawlenty. He has won two gubernatorial elections in a famously liberal state as a self-proclaimed conservative. Just about everyone assumes he’s on John McCain’s vice-presidential short list. For a party that’s looking for new ways to attract voters, Republicans could do a lot worse than this tall and lanky 47-year-old. Even so, Pawlenty can’t quite shake off suspicions about his political principles.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.