Pawlenty skips SRLC for MN NG troop return.

Well, this is gratifyingly not 2012-related:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will miss a major Republican gathering next month of possible 2012 GOP presidential contenders and instead will attend a welcome home ceremony for troops returning from Iraq, a Pawlenty spokesman tells CNN.

The two-term Minnesota governor, who is considering a bid for his party’s presidential nomination in the next election, was scheduled to attend the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

[snip]

Instead of going to New Orleans, Pawlenty will appear at the April 10 welcome home ceremony for the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Red Bull Infantry Division. The approximate 1,200 troops are finishing a long deployment to Iraq. Pawlenty was also at the unit’s sendoff.

I was contemplating going to SRLC myself, but my excuse for not going is much more prosaic: I can’t afford to. Which is life.

Anyway, as you may remember, I had a chance to utterly ignore time limits and ask him a couple of questions at CPAC; he’s stereotypically Minnesota Nice.  It’s also gratifying for this story about him picking greeting his state’s troops over a political meet-and-greeting to be not put out as a partisan political issue.

After all, that’s my job.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.