The College Fix

Former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty all but confirmed he’s running for president when he announced his exploratory committee Monday.

So, can he escape the “boring” label he’s sometimes pegged with, and grab a share of the youth vote?

Pawlenty, 50, says his relatively young age will give him an advantage over other potential candidates in the GOP field.

“I have a more recent connection to the younger generation than some have or might have had in the past,” Pawlenty said at Vanderbilt University Tuesday. “We really understand the new era of communications, and that’s why I spend time on Jon Stewart and love to do it.”

Pawlenty believes Obama has done a lot of the legwork for a GOP share of the vote.

“President Obama is going to help us because a bunch of people that voted for him last time feel duped, and they aren’t going to sign up again for dupe version two,” Pawlenty said. “The excitement around his rhetoric that has now soured into the reality of his, in my view, flawed leadership, is now evident for all to see.”

Youth voters broke for Democrats 56-40 percent in 2010, which was similar to 2004-2006 levels during the Bush White House. In 2008, Obama carried 68 percent of those under 30.

There’s a nascent infrastructure of grassroots college support developing for the governor.

“He’s the one candidate in the race that can unite all parts of the Republican Party, and do it in an authentic way,” said Justin Higgins, a junior at the Ohio State University.

Higgins is the founder of Students for Pawlenty, an advocacy group unaffiliated with the governor that only launched Saturday. After attending CPAC in February, where groups like Students for Mitch Daniels and Students for Mitt were on hand, Higgins discovered no Pawlenty group existed, and decided to change that.

“I found, actually, that he has a lot of support — quiet support, I would say — but support that’s building, especially with the announcement today,” he said.

Higgins’s belief in Pawlenty as a coalition builder may have some merit. In a post Tuesday, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza made the case for Pawlenty — and said that quiet support could prove an advantage.

“Pawlenty, at the moment, is lots of peoples’ second choice,” Cillizza wrote. “As the field narrows — and it will narrow — Pawlenty is likely to pick up supporters of other candidates because he is good — if not great — on the issues that matter most to them.”

In the meantime, Pawlenty will likely work to shake the “boring” label. Pawlenty’s been plagued by the reputation in media coverage — even RealClearPolitics reporter Scott Conroy asked the governor last year about it.

“I think if people get to know me better, it’s just not true,” he told RCP. “But the other response I have is: compared to who? There may be some more people who are dramatically more entertaining, but probably aren’t getting elected. And there are some people who are, you know, serious candidates. I would say, which one of those is a barrel of laughs or somehow in a different league as far as excitement?”

Higgins believes the full exposure of a presidential campaign cycle will defeat the boring tag for Pawlenty.

“The fact is, that when people start seeing him have townhall events, and start talking to voters — I mean, the governor is just phenomenal at explain issues: clear, concise. It’s not boring. He’s great in that way,” Higgins said.

Kyle Blaine is the news editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler. He is a member of the Student Free Press Association.

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