I spent the morning chasing Gov. Pawlenty, trying to get some comment about the McCain campaign (after requests through formal channels failed). The governor, who's the national co-chair of McCain's campaign, didn't disappoint. He said he was "proud" of McCain for gaining his presumed frontrunner status and isn't sure of his travel plans on McCain's behalf yet prior to Super Tuesday. But on to what everyone — and I mean everyone I know, Dems, Republicans, Independents — are all asking me about, constantly: the V.P. possibility. Maybe I'm just caught up in campaign season, but it seemed to me that Pawlenty issued one of his softest non-denial denials to date. You decide. Here's our conversation:
Mary: You've shot me down for years when I bring up speculation about vice president, but it's getting less theoretical. Any of this changed your thinking now that he could be the nominee?
Gov: That's largely the machinations of the idle minds of the press corps.
Mary: It's not just the State Capitol Press Corps, Governor; the country is writing about this, this is all over the country?
Gov: There are so many variables that go into a potential vice presidential candidate that no one can presume to suggest who or why it would be at this point and, moreover, I've addressed this squarely — the only reason I'm helping Senator McCain is he'd be a great president and a great help to the country.
Now this exchanged lacked the usual strong denial for the "900th time" he just wants to be governor. Sure we think of it as sport to speculate about this, but if VEEP isn't a possibility, McCain has to owe Pawlenty for sticking by him when the campaign was dead. And don't forget Pawlenty was one of the first governors in the country to endorse the Arizona senator. If the governor does not run for a third term, perhaps there’s a cabinet post for him in a potential McCain administration?