Other mates?

Another intriguing possible Republican vice presidential candidate is Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty's 2004 election in a conservative Republican (and anti-immigrant) wave in Minnesota and his de facto cutting of school funding (including funding for immigrant services) ended any hope we had at the time of Stephanie and Vincent staying in Minnesota (with or without me) (by dooming her job prospects). But, with working-class roots in South St. Paul, Pawlenty is still a populist at times and has recently worked well with the now Democratic-Farmer-Labor-party-controlled state legislature. I see that the expensive expansion of Twin Cities light rail (whose early big advocate was Pawlenty predecessor and independent Jesse Ventura), with the addition of a line from downtown St. Paul through on University Avenue through Midway and Frogtown to downtown St. Paul and east, is still plowing ahead (this couldn't have gone ahead without some support from Pawlenty, even though the conservative activists I interviewed in 2004 in the Twin Cities hated public transportation - though that was before $4/gallon gas). And Pawlenty won reelection in 2006 in what was a big Democratic year (and in a state that continues to lean Democratic, though increasingly slightly, in presidential politics - I was there a month before Senator John Kerry took the state in fall 2004). Pictured above at a National Governors Association meeting with Pawlenty are, ironically, possible Democratic vice presidential nominees, whom I rejected in an earlier blog entry, but their names continue to be out there: Obama endorsers (and Kansas Governor) Kathleen Sibelius (also pictured further below at home in Kansas) and (Arizona Governor) Janet Napolitano (both no doubt anti-Washington alternatives to Senator Clinton, though Sibelius would bring no regional balance and I believe Napolitano is anti-immigrant).

Another intriguing Republican prospect: conservative Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a former basketball star and beauty pageant queen and a 44-year-old parent of five, who is the most popular governor in the nation (with a 44% approval rating) (pictured above in a crowd with one of her daughters).

Talk on the Internet continues as to whether the child of Obama rival Hillary Clinton, Chelsea, who appeared several times in Kentuckiana but we missed her, might have a political career in front of her. Certainly, our friend Magdelena raved about her. Internet chatter also focuses on whether Chelsea has had cosmetic surgery (she certainly changed her hair style) and why she won't talk about her personal life or even say what she has done for two Clinton-supporting businesses for whom she has worked (she's currently at a hedge fund). Still, she seemed to get better and better on the campaign trail, even as her father sometimes faltered early on on the campaign trail, by taking unnecessary shots at Obama (though he generally handled much bigger audiences than Chelsea). Stay tuned.