Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota went to bat Thursday for the man who beat him out for the Republican presidential nomination -- former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

With President Barack Obama focused on two battleground states -- Ohio and Pennsylvania -- on Thursday and Friday, Republicans countered with Pawlenty and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Both Pawlenty and Jindal, who are mentioned as two of the leading possibilities to wind up as Mitt Romney’s running mate, are taking a bus tour of the two states and looking to throw jabs at Obama. They attacked the president on the national debt in Ohio on Thursday morning before heading to a rally in Parma in the afternoon. They will be going to to a rally in Pittsburgh on Friday morning.

Pawlenty played his role on team Romney Thursday, attacking Obama when he appeared on Joel Riley’s radio show in Columbus. With Romney looking to take back some of the Midwest and Great Lake states from Obama, Pawlenty spoke about that region and the need to jump-start the private sector.

“Each state’s a little different with a different economy and background and culture, but as a general rule if you look at the Midwest you’ve got people who have a strong work ethic, have a strong sense of community and family and faith and so many other things,” Pawlenty said. “But one of the main passports of whether they are going to have access to a quality of life is whether they have a job. And even if they have a job, they want it to be a good-paying job and they want it to be around. In order for that to happen you got to have a private sector that’s investing and growing and providing jobs and prospering. That’s not what’s happening in the country. And I know Ohio is struggling in many quarters as well. So we need to have some policies that are going to ignite the private sector.”

Having weighed in on the region, Pawlenty insisted that Obama has failed in improving the area’s economy and that Romney could do better.

“Mitt Romney has obviously spent his entire adult life focused on getting jobs growing and that’s what he will do as president,” Pawlenty said. “President Obama’s coming through Ohio today on a tour that’s been dubbed ‘Betting on America.’ Well, we should all bet on the country but we shouldn’t double down on Barack Obama. He’s had his chance. It’s not working. And we need to get it moving in a different direction.”

While Pawlenty’s name has garnered increasing amounts of buzz that he could end up on the ticket, and he does offer balance to Romney in many respects, the former Minnesota governor also has his flaws as a candidate.

Pawlenty has been through the vetting process before. In 2008, he was almost chosen by John McCain to end up on the Republican ticket but Pawlenty lost out to Sarah Palin. The former Minnesota governor’s blue-collar background could benefit Romney.

While Obama routed McCain in Minnesota in 2008, Pawlenty should make the Republican ticket more competitive in the North Star State which has 10 Electoral College votes. Al Gore and John Kerry barely edged George W. Bush in Minnesota. Obama did much better there, taking 54 percent while McCain lagged behind with 44 percent. Polls show Obama with a solid lead over Romney in Minnesota. Having won two statewide elections there, Pawlenty should improve Romney’s standing in the state -- but perhaps not enough to help him carry it.

Democrats could have a field day by highlighting Pawlenty’s attacks against Romney earlier in the election cycle. During his bid for the Republican nomination, Pawlenty ripped into Romney, comparing the federal health-care law that Obama signed back in 2010 and the state one Romney implemented in Massachusetts as “Obamneycare.”

Besides the attacks leveled against Romney, who he endorsed after dropping out, Pawlenty simply underwhelmed as a candidate despite initial high hopes. Pawlenty bowed out after a disappointing showing in the Iowa straw poll in August.

Pawlenty has said that he has no interest in the vice presidency. In April, in an interview with Fox News, Pawlenty said that Romney should choose another Republican for the ticket, listing U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as a possibility. 



Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.