Pawlenty calls Palin an 'outstanding pick'

By Dennis Lien
dlien@pioneerpress.com

Article Last Updated: 08/29/2008 12:21:40 PM CDT

Gov. Tim Pawlenty this morning praised the Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's choice for a running mate.

"She's an executive, she's a reformer...and she is going to be a great leader for our country," Pawlenty said after his weekly radio show at the Minnesota State Fair.

Until this morning, Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had been front runners in the Republican vice presidential race. Palin is expected to appear with McCain at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, later this morning.

Pawlenty said will continue working for McCain. He said McCain told him this morning, in a telephone call, that he was not the selection.

"It was a very positive, upbeat conversation," Pawlenty said.

As for the chatter about himself as a front runner, Pawlenty said it's "an honor to be considered."

Pawlenty said he was very pleased with Palin's selection.

"She has executive experience and as I said before, Senator Obama has not," Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said he thinks Palin would appeal to women, especially disaffected female supporters of Hillary Clinton.

State Fair-goers also weighed in on McCain's choice of a running mate.

"I am disappointed. I thought he [Pawlenty] would be a very good choice," said Mary Milligan of Forest Lake. "He gets his point across and he's very personable."

"I think it makes sense from McCain's perspective," said Kristy Harms, of Lakeville, questioning if Pawlenty had enough national stature. "He's certainly a great Republican candidate. Maybe the time isn't right. Maybe next time."

Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad said he was "very disappointed, quite frankly."

"I went to bed last night thinking it was Gov. Pawlenty," Ramstad said, adding that he felt bad, just as he did when a high school friend was cut from a basketball team.

It's time for the RNC, as security ramps up in St. Paul

After speaking with a local police office at the Excel Center last night, I realized the burden that the convention is on the city. Between the convention and the state fair, the officer I spoke to was putting in double shifts from 6am until 10pm. The fair will overlap with the convention on Monday which is the "great Minnesota Get-togethers'" last day.

While Denver slowly returns to normal, a complex of agents, officers and apparatus falls into place in the Twin Cities. The official story is below.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: August 29, 2008 - 11:37 PM

At a secret location, security officials will meet daily -- large video screens in front of them -- sharing surveillance data to be gathered during the Republican National Convention. ¶ Out in the streets, St. Paul police will field 3,500-plus officers -- a third of whom will make up mobile field force units dedicated to crowd control.

A mobile nuclear detection unit is at the ready, officials say, and the U.S. Coast Guard is set to deploy helicopters that can carry "ready assault forces" trained to drop from the sky to take on hostile threats, said Coast Guard spokesman Thomas Blue.

"They can move in quick and take care of business," he said.

As security operations go, Minnesota hasn't seen anything like it before.

The Secret Service, charged with designing and implementing the convention security plan, must be "prepared for the worst," spokesman Darrin Blackford said this week.

Critics, including the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, have accused authorities of exaggerating the possible threats.

In Denver, host of this week's Democratic National Convention, protesters also decried a "police state" after seeing officers in riot gear and atop rooftops.

Shut Down

Police raid RNC protest sites in Twin Cities

By Abby Simons, Heron Marquez Estrada and Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune

Last update: August 30, 2008 - 2:35 PM

Ramsey County authorities raided several Minneapolis homes and a St. Paul building on Friday and Saturday as a pre-emptive strike against disruptive protests of the Republican National Convention.

Five people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids.

In a statement Saturday morning, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the St. Paul raid targeted the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group he described as "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists...intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention."

"These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers," Fletcher said. Deputies seized a variety of items that they believed were tools of civil disobedience: a gas mask, bolt cutters, axes, slingshots, homemade "caltrops" for disabling buses, even buckets of urine.

MORE from the Trib

Pawlnety Looks to National Stage

August 8, 2008

The Prospects

Pawlenty Looks to National Stage

By MONICA DAVEY

ST. PAUL — As is his way, Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a self-deprecating aside on a local radio show this spring during the ceremonial start of the state’s beloved fishing season. He praised his wife’s willingness to fish with him and to watch hockey games, then added, “And I jokingly say, ‘Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me.’ ”

Some Minnesotans cringed. Others, including his wife, Mary, a former judge who met her future husband in law school, said he was just being himself, joker and all.

Outside his home state, Mr. Pawlenty is among the least-known of the prospects Senator John McCain is said to be considering as a vice-presidential partner. But those who have followed his political rise here say Mr. Pawlenty’s personal story — his direct, everyman appeal to ordinary people — is among his most powerful attributes.

Long before the polls began suggesting that Republicans could face trouble in November, Mr. Pawlenty, now in his second term, was urging his party to become “the party of Sam’s Club,” not just the country club.

“We need everybody — to grow the party and to move forward,” Mr. Pawlenty explained in a recent interview. “One of the most powerful reasons people go to Sam’s Club or Target or Costco is they want value, and Republicans are well suited to be the party that says, ‘We’re going to have a limited but also effective government.’ ”

MORE on Pawlenty

Poll Update 08/21/08

www.pollster.com

MN and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) Gear up for Convention

A hint? Pawlenty gets a choice spot in speakers' lineup

The governor is scheduled to speak on the convention's last night, before John McCain accepts the party's nomination.

By PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune

Last update: August 20, 2008 - 10:44 PM

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been awarded a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention, joining at least five others at the St. Paul event who are considered potential running mates for Sen. John McCain.

READ MORE