Tim Pawlenty for McCain's Veep?

The London Times has this article today which makes a convincing case for the governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, as McCain's running mate. He sounds perfect for McCain. And he's a politician, not an untested businesswoman, like Carly Fiorina.

Pawlenty, 47, has the youth, working-class credentials and executive experience to attract independent voters and disaffected Democrats who find Barack Obama, 46, the Democratic party nominee, too exotic and untested and McCain, 71, too old and too focused on national security.

Minnesota, which narrowly voted Democrat in 2004, is one of many upper Midwestern swing states that they hope to carry.

The governor, who will host the convention, could help McCain to win farming and industrial heartlands from Iowa to Ohio. Recent polls show Obama leading McCain in Minnesota by 50% to 41%.

Pawlenty, an evangelical Christian who backed George W Bush in 2000, said his loyalty to McCain was never in doubt.

Pawlenty has sound relations with the conservative wing of the Republican party without being a perfect fit. He admires Ronald Reagan more for his flexibility than his ideological certitude. “He had an independent, pragmatic streak and I believe I have some of those characteristics as well,” he said.

Pawlenty’s working-class background helps: “My father was a truck driver, my mother was a home maker, one brother worked in a grocery store, another in an oil refinery, my sister is a special education aide and my other sister has been a secretary for her whole career.”

He put himself through university and law school. “I worked my tail off,” he said.