Pawlenty gets national attention and scrutiny

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's national profile got a boost Friday when he landed on the front page of the New York Times.

The newspaper's profile of him kicked off a series of stories about potential Republican vice presidential candidates and served as a broad-brush introduction of him to readers likely to know little about him.

Within hours, DFLers were lambasting Pawlenty's record and calling him "the next Cheney" should he be selected as John McCain's running mate.

"With him, it's either all talk and do nothing or say one thing and do another," DFL Party chair Brian Melendez said during a conference call with reporters that also included several other DFLers .

Said state Sen. Kathy Saltzman of Woodbury: "[State] government is being run by sound bite."

The DFLers also used the call to highlight a website launched this week by the Democratic National Committee.

"The next Cheney" site features Pawlenty and six other Republicans believed to be on McCain's short list of potential running mates.

"Tim Pawlenty will offer four more years of the Bush-Cheney administration," said Mike Gehrke, the Democrats' national research director.

The New York Times story was headlined: "Seen as Everyman, Minnesota Governor Looks to National Stage."

The accompanying front-page photograph showed him and his wife, Mary, standing next to McCain.

Pawlenty was one of McCain's first prominent supporters and has for months been mentioned by politicos and pundits as a plausible running mate.

A series of high-profile recent appearances have added fuel to the speculation.

He did so again Friday, saying on radio station WCCO that he won't talk about what he calls "the veep stuff."