Weigel makes the strongest case possible for Pawlenty:
The ideal Republican presidential candidate, obviously, is a reincarnation of Ronald Reagan with the personal wealth of Mitt Romney. More broadly, the best sort of candidate any party can nominate is one who's not moderate but convinces swing voters that he is. That was one reason Obama was so attractive to liberal donors in 2007 and 2008. Hillary Clinton came out of the reformist, Democratic Leadership Council school of politics, but over a couple of decades, conservatives had convinced a pretty large number of voters that she was a committed socialist. Obama had no such problem—voters thought he was more moderate than his record suggested he was.
That's a sweet place to be. Pawlenty's been there for approximately 10 years.
The Dish 