This shouldn’t be surprising. In his two successful bids for governor, Pawlenty has received 46 percent and 47 percent of the vote. The reason? Minnesota’s Independence Party, which elected Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1998 but usually acts as a spoiler, typically for the Democrats. And since edging toward a presidential bid, Pawlenty has made hard rhetorical shifts to the right — such as suggesting that health care reform might be unconstitutional — that have been ripped apart in state newspapers. In this, Pawlenty is similar to Mitt Romney — a success in his own state who would not be able to carry it after tacking hard right to become the GOP nominee.

“I want to send my congratulations to Bob, Maureen and their family. Bob ran a positive campaign based on the conservative principles of fiscal responsibility and low taxes. Virginians embraced his conservative message, rejecting more taxes, card-check and spending that would hurt economic growth and job creation. I’m especially proud of the RGA’s historic role in supporting Bob’s effort, and look forward to working with the Governor-Elect next year.”

We cannot send more politicians to Washington who wear the Republican jersey on the campaign trail, but then vote like Democrats in Congress on issues like card check and taxes. After reviewing the candidates’ positions, I’m endorsing Doug Hoffman in New York’s special election. Doug understands the federal government needs to quit spending so much, will vote against tax increases, and protect key values like the right to vote in private in union elections.

As a possible 2012 presidential candidate, Pawlenty is taken far more seriously by the political reporting class than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; this move gives him a definite short-term boost over Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and other contenders. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), often touted as a dark horse candidate, has been silent so far — a likely function of his leadership position in the House.

Political parties must stand for something. When Republicans were in the wilderness in the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan knew that the doctrine of “blurring the lines” between parties was not an appropriate way to win elections. Unfortunately, the Republican Party today has decided to choose a candidate that more than blurs the lines, and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race. This is why Doug Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party’s ticket.

Palin’s endorsement moves this campaign from the sidelines to the center stage of the off-year elections. It’s sort of telling that Jake Tapper of ABC News mistakenly thought that Dick Armey was endorsing Hoffman as a reaction to Palin. Armey actually endorsed Hoffman on Monday — it’s just that the national media wasn’t quite paying attention yet.

The first repercussion of Palin’s move? Last time, reporters got a chance to ask Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) if he’d make an endorsement in the race, and Pawlenty said he hadn’t been following it. That the little special election has become a litmus test is a story in itself; that Pawlenty, who is promoting his political action committee right now, passed on a chance to endorse a moderate Republican in a historically Republican district is another story.

The commentators are part of the coalition, not the whole coalition. The party needs to be about addition, not subtraction — but not at the expense of watering down its principles.

Nonetheless, I think the story misses something about the party’s Glenn Beck problem. It’s not just that conservative pundits like Beck, Rush Limbaugh, et al., are unpopular and controversial. It’s that they drive the GOP into very strange places.

The Democrats are in worse political shape than they were a year ago because unemployment is at 9.8 percent, the war in Afghanistan has grown less popular, and the bailouts of struggling banks are seen as wastes of money that haven’t worked. Republicans benefit when they talk about this stuff. But Beck and the others don’t let them talk about this stuff. For the past few months, they have moved the discussion onto fantasy terrain, accusing the president of reaching for dictatorial powers and surrounding himself with “radicals” who want to destroy capitalism.

In retrospect, the successful campaign against Van Jones, the former green jobs czar who resigned in September, was the turning point in the relationship between commentators and Republicans. Elected Republicans were not really talking about Jones until after Beck, with material from WorldNetDaily and conservative groups, had spent weeks pounding Jones for old, on-the-record quotes about how he’d once considered himself a “communist” and how Republicans were “a-holes.” When Beck discovered, via conservative blogger Jim Hoft, that Jones had signed a “9/11 truth” petition, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) became the first Republican to demand his resignation. And when Jones quit, Beck and the conservative commentary class gained clout. Since then, Republicans have obsessively gone after the president’s “czars” (a nonsense issue I’ve dealt with in the past) and after specific members of the administration, like “safe schools czar” Kevin Jennings and White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, whom conservative commentators were attacking for their past statements and associations.

This isn’t to say Republicans have been distracted or unsuccessful in Congress. They’ve certainly scored victories during this period. And by paying attention to these conservative witch hunts, they’ve definitely kept their base revved up. But in the current political context, it seems like they’re missing the forest for some shrubs. It’s as if Democrats tried to press their advantages in 2005 not by going after the Iraq War or the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, but by spending weeks attacking mid-ranking members of his administration and claiming that President George W. Bush was driving the nation toward fascism. And remember, one of the huge political mistakes of 2005 was the Republican decision to do a full-court press on an issue that had come from conservative activists and pundits: the fate of Terri Schiavo.

Here’s part of a fundraising letter I got last month from Brown.

On Saturday afternoon, Gary Kreep, one of the first conservative lawyers to sue for proof of Barack Obama’s citizenship, is moderating a panel on “The Rule of Nebulous Law: Thoughts on the Modern Judiciary.”

I asked Pawlenty whether he and his PAC would push for voter registration reform along the lines of his own state’s fairly straightforward process, which allows registration up to and including Election Day. (Thanks to my colleague Graham Moomaw for typing it up.)

“One potential corrosion of our freedom and liberty is to have the democratic system, the election system, being undermined or becoming even partially fraudulent or lacking in credibility,” said Pawlenty. “We have electronic scanners in Minnesota. The ballots that were cast last time through the scanners were 99.9 or so percent accurate. There were no problems with them and the individuals who cast those ballots had to present themselves at a polling place in person and with at least some, you know, screens around identification and proper voting.”

Pawlenty went on to say that “all the problems in Minnesota in the Franken-Coleman [Senate] race related to the absentee ballot process.”

“I’ve been told that in 2006 there were 12,000 absentee ballots cast in our state,” said Pawlenty. “That’s a high number based on a historical number, so keep that in mind, 12,000 in 2006. In 2008, there were almost 300,000 absentee ballots cast in our state. Now this is a process where people are supposed to use absentee ballots because they’re unavailable in their voting area on Election Day because they’re out of the state, they’re on business travel, or they’re medically or physically unable to show up. So you can see in a presidential race, you know, an increase of say 10 percent or 20 percent or something like that from 2006. But what you saw is approaching this 3,000 percent increase, in absentee voting in Minnesota … obviously something very extraordinary occurred and what occurred is you had grassroots organizations come in here and use the absentee ballot process as a substitute for voting by mail. And, almost all of the problems … in the Franken-Coleman case come out of these absentee ballots.”

Pawlenty circled back to my question about whether his own state’s voter registration system should be a national model. “Same-day registration in Minnesota would be fine if we had more stringent identification requirements,” he said, “specifically photo ID. We don’t require, and we should require in Minnesota, photo ID. So it’s not that the timing or the day of it is the problem. It’s making sure that we welcome any legal person who’s entitled to vote, to vote. We just need to make sure it’s appropriate. Now, we don’t have a history or tradition in Minnesota of a lot of voter fraud or these kinds of concerns but this Franken-Coleman experience, particularly as related to the absentee ballots, gives us pause. So, it’s not so much a same-day registration issue as it is making sure the registration, and the identification that goes along with it, is rigorous and appropriate.”

I told Pawlenty that I’d asked the question in the context of him hiring Sara Taylor to work for his campaign, and wondered whether he agreed with the priority she, and the Bush administration in general, placed on poring over voter rolls for alleged registration fraud.

“Absolutely,” Pawlenty said. “We should aggressively, at the state and federal level, enforce voter fraud concerns and to aggressively investigate and enforce voter fraud concerns. Because if we allow any corrosion to the integrity of the system, it calls into question the entire credibility of the results of the election and ultimately the pillars of the democracy. It is extraordinarily important. It goes to the core credibility and acceptance of our democratic system. And if people are going to question the outcome and say it was derived by fraud, as opposed to the will of the people, you’ve undermined a core tenet of democracy. It’s very concerning. Now, so to answer your question, we should make it a critical priority.”

One of the hires that surprised me: Sara Taylor, the former Director of the Office of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush. Taylor was a key figure in the 2007 controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys who declined to press 11th hour cases of “voter fraud” before the midterms. She may be best remembered for her revealing comment during hearings on the issue that she “taking that oath [of office] means that I need to respect, and do respect, my service to the president.” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reminded her that her oath was to the Constitution, not the president.

Video after the jump, as well as the text of the Pawlenty press release.

Tim Pawlenty Announces “Freedom First” PAC

PAC’s Leadership Team Includes Experienced, Respected, Diverse Talent

ST. PAUL, Minnesota – Seeking to help elect conservatives in 2009 and 2010, Tim Pawlenty today filed forms with the Federal Election Commission to create the Freedom First political action committee. The new federal PAC will offer financial support to candidates committed to putting freedom before government, and provide organizational support for Pawlenty to promote his innovative, conservative message. The new PAC will have an unprecedented approach to citizen engagement, and features a website at www.TimPawlenty.com, where supporters can add their voice to Pawlenty’s message.

“Right now, our freedoms are being challenged on many fronts,” Pawlenty said. “This organization is dedicated to putting freedom first again in America. By helping candidates and translating our ideas into policies that everyone can relate to and support, we can turn back the growth of Washington and renew the promise of freedom.”

Freedom First PAC will be co-chaired by William H. Strong, the Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley, and the Honorable Vin Weber, former Minnesota congressman, and partner at Clark and Weinstock.

“Tim is an authentic leader with a record of results,” Strong said. “I’m excited to work with him to elect great candidates across the country. His record of fiscal conservatism in Minnesota makes him a credible voice on the issues facing our country.”

“There’s a big debate about the role of government and personal freedom raging at the moment, and I’m excited to help promote fresh new ideas, and new leaders.” Weber said. “Given Tim’s successful record in Minnesota, he’s in a unique position to harness that energy and help other candidates.”

The PAC’s first Minnesota fundraiser will be held on November 4 in Minneapolis and will be anchored by a diverse and distinguished group of Minnesotans who will serve as the Freedom First PAC Minnesota Co-Chairs. They include:

* Al & Cathy Annexstad, Shorewood, Minnesota
* Bill Cooper, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, TCF Financial Corporation, and former Chairman of Republican Party of Minnesota.
* Mark Davis, Chairman, Cambria
* Megan Doyle, Founder, Hope for the City
* Jeff Larson, Former CEO, 2008 MSP Host Committee and Partner, FLS Connect.
* Susan Marvin, President, Marvin Windows
* Tim Owens, CEO, Voyager Bank
* Tom Stauber, President & owner, Edwards Sales
* Bob Ulrich, Former CEO, Target

Providing management, strategic and political planning will be a cadre of campaign veterans serving as senior advisors, including Phil Musser, President of New Frontier Strategy and former executive director of the Republican Governors Association; Terry Nelson, Partner, Mercury Public Affairs and former RNC and Bush-Cheney 2004 political director; and Sara Taylor, President of BlueFront Strategies and former White House political director. Former FEC Chairman Michael Toner of Bryan Cave, LLP will serve as the PAC’s counsel.

The PAC’s communication director will be Alex Conant. A Minnesota native, Conant most recently served as the Republican National Committee’s national press secretary and senior advisor. Online strategy and outreach will be led by Patrick Ruffini and Mindy Finn of Engage. Ruffini previously headed the RNC’s online department as well as working with the Giuliani Presidential campaign and Finn oversaw Mitt Romney’s online strategy during his 2008 presidential campaign. Liz Mair and Patrick Hynes of Hynes Communications will handle online communications outreach. Hynes served as blog outreach consultant for John McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign, and Mair served as the RNC’s online communications director during 2008.

The Minnesota Finance Director will be Trisha Hamm, who was previously the political director for Pawlenty’s gubernatorial campaign. Annie Kelly, who formerly served as the deputy campaign manager for Pawlenty’s campaign in 2006, will be responsible for PAC operations, and Don Stiles will serve as Treasurer.

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In October 2007, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) won the first straw poll held by this young event, a controversial result skewed by online voting by people who didn’t attend the conference. (There was no such online voting this year.) Mike Huckabee’s strong showing among voters who attended the conference foreshadowed his remarkable victory in the Iowa caucuses three months later.

Huckabee led eight other potential Republican candidates: Romney placed second with 12.4 percent, while Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) polled 12.23 percent, Sarah Palin polled 12.06 percent, and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) polled 11.89 percent. People included in the poll who didn’t the top five: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.

Only Pence, Huckabee, Pawlenty and Romney spoke to the conference before the vote, while Rick Santorum was scheduled to give a short invocation for Phyllis Schlafly at tonight’s banquet.

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