Tim Pawlenty announced his early departure from the 2012 GOP Primary this morning on ABC’s “This Week” political program.
Pawlenty’s departure comes just one day after a truly disappointing third place finish in Iowa’s Ames Straw Poll. What it tells us is something elemental but that too many right-of-center activists often forget: that your views could be unimpeachably conservative and your resume might be awesome but guess what?
If you have less personality than the wood in an Iowa state fair picnic table, then you’re just not going to hack it as a national candidate! Every passionate tea party phone banker and daily Rush Limbaugh subscriber would be the next Ronald Reagan in a hypothetical universe where charisma, looks, swagger, oratory skills and sex appeal weren’t worth anything.
But those traits are worth quite a bit in our world for better or worse, so Tim Pawlenty is headed into semi-political retirement this morning after less than three months in the race.
