Lame duck Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty had more bad news today. Pawlenty has 1% of Iowa Republicans supporting him. Pawlenty has consistently been unable to rise above the low single digits in 2012 presidential polling.
Pawlenty scored 1 percent in a poll of Republican presidential hopefuls released Monday by the Iowa Republican, putting him in a distant tie for sixth out of 10 candidates in the poll.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, led at 22 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 18 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 14 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 11 percent.
As Pawlenty's presidential campaign trundles down the runway unable to achieve flight, I wonder how long the runway is and how long until his campaign loses its wings amongst the trees?
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Thursday he wasn't concerned by a campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices over a decision that legalized gay marriage in the state.
...
Asked about a campaign organized by Sioux City business consultant Bob Vander Plaats -- who failed in his bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination -- to remove the justices, Pawlenty stressed that he supports limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
"I think the law should support that, and to the extent you have judges inserting their personal views to change that, I don't like it," Pawlenty said.
Vander Plaats and others have promised to organize an effective campaign to remove Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit when they come up for a retention vote in the November general election. The three joined a unanimous decision in 2009 that found an Iowa law banning same-sex marriage violated the state constitution.
Pawlenty is within his rights to believe that the law should support limiting civil rights to straight couples only. He's wrong and pandering to the bigoted wing of his party's base, but he can believe whatever he wants. But note the contradiction between reality and the dog-whistle politics he's playing here -- "inserting their personal views"? No sir, those judges found that banning same-sex marriage violated the law (the Iowa Constitution, written and enacted under the aegis of the Constitution of the United States) as it stands today. Not as anyone thinks it "should" be.
"Judicial activism" has always been a red herring for the modern conservative movement since it's been conservative justices who have most often overridden legislation and lower courts, but in a world where judges are using existing constitutional law to find the Right's hot-button issues to be small beans, leaders with arguments like T-Paw's are going to be in big, big trouble.
In a larger-scale sense, this is the crux of the recent kerfuffle over the 14th Amendment. The GOP leadership appears to think it's found a way to unite its anti-gay and anti-immigrant factions under a common argument: changing or repealing the constitutional amendment that guarantees due process and equal protection under the law for all. It's the 14th Amendment that informed Judge Walker's decision to expunge Proposition 8 in California, and it's the 14th Amendment that's going to guarantee that same-sex marriage bans are overturned across the nation once the inevitable lawsuits go forward.
In that light, the link to immigration and birthright citizenship seems like a marriage of convenience. Of COURSE the Steeles and Boehners and McConnells of the world would jump on it.
Meanwhile, T-Paw's quixotic run for the GOP presidential nomination continues in his regular aw-shucks-but-can't-make-a-coherent-argument-for-anyone-outside-my-base way. One must wonder if Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer agrees with Pawlenty's analysis, though...
Minnesota's lame duck Governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is getting desperate. He has consistently polled in the lower single digits. He cannot gain any traction. So what's his solution?
For this loyal Republican crowd, the setting was a familiar one. The opening line was not.
"I'm very thankful for my red-hot smoking wife, the first lady of Minnesota," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty, pointing to his wife, Mary, who was standing a few feet away.
As the audience roared, she said with a smile: "Who, when they're turning 50, doesn't like to be called a red-hot smoking wife?"
(NY Times, h/t Wonkette)
Oh. My. God. Is this what his presidential campaign has come to?
A strong cross-wind blew from the west our entire drive down to Wichita, KS. It's been three years since we've driven down to visit my in-laws. What's remarkable is the changes in Iowa.
I saw two massive wind farms near I-35, both with a hundred or so wind turbines each. Considering the wind was blowing at a steady 20MPH with gusts up to 40MPH, yesterday generated a significant amount of electricity.
I saw three old-fashioned windmills in Missouri and Kansas and none were functional.
What's the difference? Who controls the state. Republicans control Missouri and Kansas. Despite steady winds which blow all the time down here, Republicans will never invest in sustainable energy.
A recent ruling by the supreme court essentially guts the fourth amendment right to protection against unwarranted search and seizure of our homes. Now corporations have all the rights of people without even risking jail, risking termination or risking running out of time. Well, it is getting worse. Before the Republican National Convention, Sheriff Fletcher and the FBI used pre-emptive raids and pre-emptive arrests on basically no evidence.The justification was fear of terror. Now in the calmest no-fear time, one person, Carrie Feldman has been jailed for contempt of court for 12 weeks. There was no trial and no conviction, and it appears that there is no end to the jailing. So we, as a nation, have gone from 3 days of jailing without due process of law to 12 weeks and continuing. Anyone of us could now be held endlessly for not testifying about something that we know nothing about.
2012 Republican presidential candidate and occasional MN visitor will be headlining a Republican fundraiser in Iowa this Saturday. This is after his brief stop in MN.
Minnesota Governor and RGA vice chairman Tim Pawlenty will be the featured guest at the Iowa Republican party's "signature fall event," a further indication that he is exploring a 2012 presidential bid.
The event, to be held this Saturday, is the latest in a series of moves by Pawlenty that raise his national profile. He officially opened his political action committee, the Freedom First PAC, last week and has rounded up several former George W. Bush campaign advisers.
(MSNBC)
But here's the kicker. They originally asked Sarah Palin to headline the event!
Rachel Maddow reported this tonight and I'll post the vid if'n I can find it. The gist of Rachel's comment was that Palin didn't return emails and phone calls before they asked Timmeh. Once they settled on Mr. Backup, they also reduced the price to $25 a seat from some much higher price. Maybe because Timmeh Backup isn't as much of a draw?
The Iowa Supreme Court this morning unanimously upheld gays' right to marry.
"The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution," the justices said in a summary of their decision.
The court rules that gay marriage would be legal in three weeks, starting April 24.
With that Iowa will become the first Midwestern state to allow gay marriage. Or will it?
"The decision made by the Iowa Supreme Court today to allow gay marriage in Iowa is disappointing on many levels," State Senator Paul McKinley, the Republican leader, said in a statement on The Des Moines Register's Web site. "I believe marriage should only be between one man and one woman and I am confident the majority of Iowans want traditional marriage to be legally recognized in this state."
He added: "Though the court has made their decision, I believe every Iowan should have a voice on this matter and that is why the Iowa Legislature should immediately act to pass a Constitutional Amendment that protects traditional marriage, keeps it as a sacred bond only between one man and one woman and gives every Iowan a chance to have their say through a vote of the people."
As I'm sure Senator McKinley is aware an amendment to the Iowan constitution requires both houses of the legislature to pass the amendment in two consecutive general assemblies (two year sessions) and then it must be approved by voters, so no earlier than 2012.
And there's more.
Iowa has no residency requirement for getting a marriage license, which some suggest may mean a flurry of people from other states.
Some suggest? There is no doubt that three weeks from now the Iowa road trip will be a very popular activity for many Minnesotans. And Missourians. And Illinoisans. And even probably some Nebraskans and Kansans.
December 4, 2007 - Des Moines, IA, NPR News/Iowa Public Radio Debate December 13, 2007 - Johnston, Iowa, Des Moines Register Democratic Debate
December 17, 2007 - Boston, MA
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 1, 2007 - Des Moines, IA, Brown & Black Forum
December 1, 2007 - Des Moines, IA, Heartland Presidential Forum
December 4, 2007 - Des Moines, IA, NPR News/Iowa Public Radio Debate
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California, CBS
December 13, 2007 - Johnston, Iowa, Des Moines Register Democratic Debate
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California
Lame duck Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty had 
