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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

Pawlenty sits down with Politico

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Politico interviewed Gov. Pawlenty on the stimulus, Minnesota politics and his political future.

Here's an interesting nugget:

Q: Just a few years ago, Republicans were in control of the Minnesota legislature. You were elected governor. Now it seems like everything's collapsed for Minnesota Republicans. You barely won reelection. It looks like Coleman loses his seat. What happened to the Republican Party in Minnesota?

A: Well, I think it's a mirror of what happened nationally. But Minnesota also has deep Democratic or liberal roots. It's the land of Humphrey, Mondale, McCarthy, Wellstone. And it is a state that for almost all of its recent history was a pretty deep-blue state. It got a little purplish or competitive around 2002. But as the country has lurched back toward the Democrats, so has Minnesota. With the exception of [Indiana Gov.] Mitch Daniels, there isn't a Republican governor between me and the Atlantic Ocean.