Not much new to report, but a couple of nuggets are worth passing along.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that, in the eyes of offshore bettors, the odds are looking good for our governor:

The so-called “steam” — slang for a rush of betting action — indicates plenty of recent support for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Pawlenty has emerged as a co-favorite with Mitt Romney to be McCain’s running mate. Odds are about 2-1.

On the Democratic side, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh are the betting co-favorites at similar odds in the 2-1 range to serve as Obama’s running mate in the November election.

You can read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, ABC News is reporting, per “sources,” that everybody ginning up the vice-presidential speculation should take a few deep breaths:

The frenzied speculation last week that a McCain pick was “imminent” has proven to be nothing more than that. Sources say McCain has not made up his mind and is unlikely to announce his selection until later next month–with the caveat that the independent McCain, who will make this decision on his own, could, of course, always make up his mind and announce next week.

The report goes on to say that the conundrum facing John McCain is that there’s no sure-fire conservative pick on his short list; “Each candidate on his short list–his former opponent, Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman–has drawbacks.”

And Pawlenty gets this less-than-flattering assessment:

Pawlenty has an established relationship with McCain and has been a visible surrogate for him on the political talk shows. He’s spoken powerfully about changing the Republican Party from the Country Club to Sam’s Club–which, if he could do, would help in those key states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. But nothing suggests at this point that Pawlenty could actually deliver those states, so what does he add? And can you really say, “President Pawlenty?”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 10:06 am 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.