PAWLENTY AND BUSH: "I'D STAND WITH PRESIDENT BUSH IF HE APPROVAL RATING WAS 2 PERCENT"
Pawlenty Supported Making the Bush Tax Cuts Permanent. On a CNN Late Edition episode, Wolf Blitzer asked Governor Pawlenty if he didn't have a problem "with allowing the Bush tax cuts that were implemented in 2001 and 2003 to made permanent, all of the Bush tax cuts, the estate tax plus the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, including billionaires?" Pawlenty called the debate "silly" and said “they should have been permanent in the first place."1
Pawlenty: "I'd Stand With President Bush if His Approval Rating Was 2 Percent." The Star Tribune noted in October 2005, "Pawlenty waved off any concerns about Bush, Hatch or other DFLers on Wednesday. 'I'd stand with President Bush if his approval rating was 2 percent,' Pawlenty said. 'I won't abandon my leader just because times are tough.'"2
Pawlenty Was An Early Supporter of the Bush Plan to Privatize Social Security. The Los Angeles Times noted, "Several Republican governors expressed support during interviews Saturday for Bush's plan for private accounts, including Govs. Lingle of Hawaii, Robert A. Taft of Ohio, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jim Douglas of Vermont, all of whom said the idea was popular with young people in their states."3
Pawlenty Was An "Enthusiastic Supporter" of No Child Left Behind and Supported Extending It to High Schools. The Star Tribune reported, "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed the centerpiece of President Bush's second-term education agenda Sunday, backing a plan to extend the federal No Child Left Behind testing requirements to high schools ... Pawlenty has been an enthusiastic supporter of No Child Left Behind, but his comments on Sunday were the first time he has endorsed Bush's plan to push the law’s reach into the nation's high schools. 'I think Minnesota could, and should, move in that direction,' the Republican governor said."4
MINNESOTA UNDER FAILED BUSH-MCCAIN-PAWLENTY ECONOMIC POLICIES
Minnesota Lost 8,600 Jobs in July as the Unemployment Rate Jumped to 5.8%. Minnesota's unemployment rate jumped up a half percent from June to July, as the state lost 8,600 jobs. The state's July unemployment rate is 5.8%, higher than the national average of 5.7%. The July data marked a continuation of Minnesota's declining performance. Minnesota's unemployment rate is no longer below the national average. Overall, the state has lost 900 jobs in the past year. Minnesota 2020 noted, "When Governor Pawlenty took office in January 2003, his "no new tax" conservative public policy agenda was supposed to bolster the state's economy and create more jobs. The sad reality is just the opposite."5
Income Down 6.8%. Median household income in Minnesota decreased from $60,205 in 2000 to $56,102 in 2006, a difference of $4,103 per household.6
Gas Prices Up 176%. In January of 2001, a regular gallon of gas in Minnesota averaged $1.38 including taxes. Currently the average is $3.82, an increase of 176%.7
Bankruptcies Up 172% Since 2006. Bankruptcy filings in have increased by 2,292 in Minnesota from 1,326 in the first quarter of 2006 to 3,618 in the first quarter of 2008.8
MCCAIN THINKS PAWLENTY'S SAME-AS-BUSH POLICIES ARE FUTURE OF GOP
McCain: Pawlenty is "The Future of The Republican Party." "He’s a great, fine person. Re-elected in one of the toughest re-election years in the history of the Republican Party. He comes from a -- his father I am pretty sure drove a truck. He has pretty successfully been able to work across the aisle in Minnesota with the Democrats. And I think he is -- he, Bobby Jindal and a number of governors, I think are the future of the Republican Party, the next generation of leadership."9
McCain: Pawlenty Has "A Very Big Place" in GOP Future. "Presidential candidate John McCain says Tim Pawlenty has "a very big place" in the Republican Party's future."10
With Pawlenty at His Side, McCain Says Pawlenty is "Next Generation of Leadership in Our Republican Party." "I think that all of us in public life have an obligation to try to encourage another generation behind us to serve, and that's why I've been very privileged to know Governor Pawlenty," McCain said at a press conference, with Pawlenty standing at his side. "I think he's the next generation of leadership in our Republican Party, and in America."11
[2] Minnesota Star Tribune, 10/20/05
[3] Los Angeles Times, 2/27/05
[4] Minnesota Star Tribune, 2/28/05
[5] Minnesota Department Employment and Economic Development Press Release, 8/14/08; MN 2020 Press Release, 8/14/08
[6] Joint Economic Committee Fact Sheet, 8/29/07; Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce
[7] Energy Information Administration; U.S. Depart. of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, State Motor Fuel Tax Rates, AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report
[8] American Bankruptcy Institute, State Statistics, 7/22/08
[9] New York Times, 7/23/08
[10] Associated Press, 6/19/08
[11] Minnesota Public Radio, 4/12/06
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