Tim Pawlenty to eat rubber chicken in New Hampshire next month

Who's going to get more press? Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty or former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin?

Well, luckily for Pawlenty it's not a direct competition right now. Both he and Palin are hitting the road soon. Palin on her much anticipated book tour and Pawlenty at a Republican dinner next month in New Hampshire.

If they were going head-to-head, the only thing that might give him a share of the spotlight is if he traveled there in a mylar balloon with Carrie Prejean. But since it's so early in the quest for 2012, there's probably no need to resort to that strategy.

Rubber chicken alert

News out of New Hampshire is that Pawlenty will speak at a $50-a-plate fundraiser for the Republican Senate Majority Committee PAC in the town of Concord on December 16.

A big deal? Sure, if you're a political junkie. He's just doing what candidates interested in the presidency do. They visit the key states. They give their stump speeches. They eat rubber chicken. They rail against the opposing party.

He's doing all of that. He spoke at a big Republican hoedown last week in Iowa. He's scheduled to speak at a GOP event in Florida on Friday.

Last month he rolled out a very patriotic sounding Political Action Committee called "Freedom First."

Public enemy number one

Democrats might be thinking "Pawlenty First" in terms of their most feared opponents. An interesting piece in Newsweek today outlines why Pawlenty might be public enemy No. 1 for President Obama.

Andrew Romano writes that of all the DNC emails that have been written this year disparaging prospective Republican candidates in 2012, Pawlenty's been mentioned the most.

"All told, the DNC has mentioned Pawlenty in 48 e-mails over the past two months, versus 37 for Palin, 16 for Gingrich, 12 for Romney, 11 for Jindal and four for Huckabee," he said. "All of this despite the fact that a new national survey by Rasmussen Reports shows Huckabee as the top 2012 choice..."

------------

Hey, we'll never write negative emails about you. But if we do, we'll only send them out on Twitter. So follow us!