Pawlenty will campaign with McCain in Iowa today

03/15/2007

Star Tribune
March 15, 2007

Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to spend today stumping across Iowa with Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose presidential campaign has recently hit a rough patch.

In January, Pawlenty signed on as co-chairman of McCain's presidential exploratory committee, stoking speculation that he could be in line for the vice presidential nod should McCain become the Republican nominee.

Last fall, McCain campaigned for Pawlenty's reelection, which left the two-term governor as one of the highest-profile GOP survivors of the Election Day sweep by Democrats. Since then, Pawlenty has returned the favor, appearing several times on the campaign trail with McCain.

McCain, once the front-runner for the Republican nomination, has fallen behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in national polls. A recent Iowa poll shows him trailing by 5 percentage points.

McCain skipped the lead-off Iowa caucuses in 2000, largely because his opposition to ethanol subsidies was considered a fatal policy position in a state where agricultural interests are dominant.

Since then, McCain has changed his position, saying the rise in oil prices has made ethanol a viable energy alternative. He has been campaigning aggressively in Iowa. This week's three-day, five-city swing is his sixth of this election cycle.

By comparison, Giuliani doesn't plan to make his first Iowa visit until early next month. A half-dozen other Republican candidates have mounted campaign organizations in Iowa, while making repeated visits.