The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, who writes as "The Fix," has long written kind things about Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But, now, it seems the crush has faded.
Whereas last September, Pawlenty was ranked number two in the columnist's Republican power rankings (sample: " Give Tpaw credit -- he recognized that he had to quickly get moving if he wanted to emerge as a national leader, and he has done just that."), the Gopher Gov has now dropped to a mediocre number 5. Saturday's ranking:
Movement doesn't equal momentum but Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, seems to be everywhere these days -- traveling to New Hampshire and Iowa (and Asia), and generally putting the pieces in place to be a serious candidate in 2012. At the moment, Tpaw resembles no one as much as former Gov. Mitt Romney at this time in the 2008 presidential race -- a candidate who, on paper, is doing everything right but remains unproven on the stump. (Previous ranking: 4)
