Back when speculation was flying about whom John McCain would name as his running mate, one name that kept popping up was Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. He was, and remains, relatively unknown on the national scence but, when his name started floated as a potential VP pick, he quietly started making the rounds and doing a bit of outreach to the Religious Right.
For instance, last June he sat down for an interview with CBN's David Brody where he assured Evangelicals that they could support John McCain and that he would make them proud, as well declaring that his own value system was defined by his committment to Christ:
I am defined by my commitment to Christ and people always say well there is an official role and there is but I don’t think people in public life should shy away from sharing their faith perspective because it informs others about their value system and what they believe and who they are and so I am a committed Christian and I am someone who is proud to say that my value system, my beliefs are shaped my faith and my faith in Christ and I think that is informative for people to know and I’m not bashful about that.
After getting passed over for Sarah Palin, Pawlenty sort of disppeared from the scene - at least until he showed up at CPAC and exhorted the audience to make sure that faith in God remained at the “forefront of the values, principles and issues” of the conservative movement.
That sort of talk obviously pleased OneNewsNow, which tracked him down for some follow-up and Pawlenty again delivered:
In an interview with OneNewsNow, Pawlenty reiterated that "faith in God" should be at the forefront of the conservative movement.
"If you go back and look at why and how this country was founded, people who envisioned America and the American dream first and foremost said we need to acknowledge and be grateful to God," the governor stated. "And it's reflected in our founding documents; it should be reflected in our daily lives, our political values, our political principles, and our own behavior.
"It all starts with that," he emphasized. "That is the foundation upon which we build our house -- literally and figuratively."
Pawlenty insists to ONN that he currently has no presidential ambitions, but with talk like that he might soon find himself being courted by Religious Right leaders who are desperately searching for a presidential candidate to lead them out of the wilderness.
