Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the White House Thursday representing the Financial Services Roundtable, according to a White House official and a spokeswoman for the bank lobby group he now heads. Pawlenty, a former presidential contender, was in the West Wing to discuss business issues related to the "fiscal cliff." A White House official said he met only with staff, not President Obama. Elise Brooks Perkins, communications director for the Financial Services Roundtable, said she could not discuss any other details about the meeting. Pawlenty is the chief executive of the Financial Services Roundtable, an organization that represents large banks and other financial-service providers. The visit comes a day after Pawlenty suggested the Democrats have the upper hand in fiscal cliff negotiations, telling a panel sponsored by Bloomberg Government in Washington, "You can't corner people so totally and so badly that they have no way out."
