I had the chance to go to a Meet and Greet with Gov. Tim Pawlenty across the river in Council Bluffs this morning. The setting was a nice little cafe, the Main Street Cafe, surprisingly enough, on Main Street. I won’t dwell on my first experience with Iowa retail politics, except to say that everything you’ve heard about it is true.<\/p>\n

Pawlenty spoke well, but not outstandingly, in my opinion. He gave solid, conservative answers to the questions asked, and while some of the social issues did come up, the primary focus was on national defense, the budget, and economic issues. I thought his answers to the budget\/debt questions were a little weak; he didn’t seem to grasp, for instance, that Boehner 2.0 incorporated many of the elements of Cut, Cap, and Balance, in another form.<\/p>\n

The sound, I will warn you, is not that great. Pawlenty is near the tail end of qualifying for residency in Iowa, and his voice was a little weak, and trying to compete with a loud air conditioner in a small room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Stump Speech<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Boehner Plan 2.0<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Family Leader<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Federal Overreach<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Congress and Public Employees Benefits<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Military<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Payment Priorities<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – RomneyCare<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – Taxes<\/strong><\/td>\n
QA – UN and International Law<\/strong><\/td>\n
Closing<\/strong><\/td>\n