Back in November, ex-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't quite rule out a comeback bid for his old job, only saying he was "politically retired." The Star-Tribune's J. Patrick Coolican writes that Pawlenty has been saying the same kind of thing for months publicly, but GOP sources tell him that behind the scenes, Pawlenty really is considering getting in. Coolican reports that the former governor is "watching to see if the current field is locking down financial and political support."
If Pawlenty ran, he'd certainly be the biggest name in the GOP field. And as we wrote months ago, Pawlenty currently works in D.C. as a lobbyist for banks, which gives him access to plenty of money. Of course, Democrats wouldn't need to work hard to portray Pawlenty as a tool of greedy Washington interests if he attempted a comeback.
It's also not clear how popular Pawlenty, who ran an unimpressive race for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, is. Pawlenty last was on the ballot in 2006, when he narrowly won re-election 47-46 during the Democratic wave. Pawlenty left office with weak approval ratings, but a 2015 PPP survey gave him a positive 42-33 favorable score.
The GOP field is still slowly taking shape. The current candidates are Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, who lost to Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton 50-45 in 2014; ex-state party chair Keith Downey; state Sen. David Osmek; and state Rep. Matt Dean. Several other Republicans, most notably House Speaker Kurt Daudt, are still talking about getting in. Back in July, Daudt said he would decide by the early fall, which would put his announcement around… now? However, Daudt has been pretty inconsistent about his timeline in the past.