Forum Communications over in Fargo has noticed a little something about our dear Governor Pawlenty that a certain publication had also caught… our Governor’s national ambitions are showing. Now this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, if our Governor was using the limelight to make sure that Minnesotans were getting their fair share of federal funding and making smart long-term decisions on the budget. However, his ambitions for higher office appear to be going in the opposite direction, putting the concerns of the more extreme members of the Republican Party ahead of the people of Minnesota. From the editorial:

"It’s a curious stance for a blue-state Midwest governor, whose voters tilted convincingly for Obama; who was the only major Republican left standing when election dust settled last November; who has to work with a Democratic legislative majority to get anything of significance done.

Nonetheless, there was Pawlenty on TV, firmly positioning himself with the likes of Southern right-wing governors, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Moderate GOP governors who are embracing the federal stimulus were California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida’s Charlie Christ."

With the state facing such a massive budget deficit, we can’t afford a Governor who is playing politics with decisions that will affect us years after he has left for D.C. Tell him it’s time to remember who he is working for and to save the campaigning for later.