It was billed as a press conference to tout John McCain’s energy policy, starring Gov. Tim Pawlenty at a suburban service station, but — surprise — alll the gathered press wanted to talk about was the veepstakes.

Pawlenty wasn’t biting this afternoon — any more than he has all week, as speculation has continued to mount that he may well become McCain’s running mate. Besides, the back-and-forth between the campaigns over gas tax holidays and offshore drilling was old stuff.

So the questioners tried their best to trip Pawlenty up, but he’s got his answer down pat: “I’m honored to have my name mentioned, but I’ve stopped engaging in speculation,” he said, the first of several variations on that theme he tried out.”

“I’ve said all I can say on it,” he said. “It doesn’t advance anything — it just leads to more speculation,” he said as he headed for his car.

Don’t be surprised if the dance resumes Friday morning, either during his weekly radio show, or afterward, as reporters try to squeeze something more out of him.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 5:27 pm and is filed under John McCain, Main, Presidential, Republicans, Tim Pawlenty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.