Tim Pawlenty jumps ship

By Richard K. Barry 

Yeah, ha-ha. It should’ve been me.

I don’t know if this will get a lot of play, but it sure is a strange item. Here we are, 46 days to the election, and Mitt Romney’s campaign co-chair Tim Pawlenty has decided now would be a good time to resign that position to take a job as a bank lobbyist.

According to The New York Times:

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, is resigning as a national co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign to take a job in Washington as a top lobbyist for a group representing banks and financial companies.

Mr. Palwenty’s new role as President and chief executive of the Financial Services Roundtable was announced by the organization Thursday morning. In a statement, the group said that Mr. Pawlenty would step down from his role at Mr. Romney’s campaign because the organization is bipartisan.

This really is odd. Is it that things are so tense within Team Romney that Pawlenty couldn’t wait to get away? Is it that any thought of being rewarded with a cabinet post in a Romney administration is pretty much a lost cause? Or is it just too hard for poor Tim to hang on thinking that if he had only stuck it out, he couldn’t be doing any worse than his party’s nominee?

Don’t forget, he probably was the only credible candidate who could have appealed to the Tea Party right as well as the party establishment and maybe attract enough swing votes. As dull as he would have been as a candidate, it’s possible, with the economy in the shape it’s in, dull would have worked.

I’ll bet he really is shaking his head at the bone-headed decision he made to quit his bid for the nomination when he did.

I almost feel sorry for him. Then again, as a lobbyist for the banks, he’ll be making bucket loads of money.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann’s Ghost.)