The International Herald Tribune reports this story from the Republican governor’s post-mortem of the Republican presidential campaign:Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who was very nearly Senator John McCain's running mate this year, told the decidedly subdued, post-election conference of the Republican Governors Association about a revelation he had recently while looking into the bathroom mirror at his home in Minnesota.
Pawlenty said that after returning from the campaign trail, he looked at himself in the mirror and complained about what he saw to his wife, Mary.
"I said, 'Mary, look at me,"' he said. "'I mean, my hairline's receding, these crow's feet and wrinkles are multiplying on my face by the day, I've been on the road eating junk food, I'm getting flabby, these love handles are flopping over the side of my belt.'
"I said, 'Is there anything you can tell me that would give me some hope, some optimism, some encouragement?"' he said. "And she looked at me and she said, 'Well, there's nothing wrong with your eyesight."'
As his fellow governors laughed, he came to the moral of the story: "If we are going to successfully travel the road to improvement, as Republicans, we need to see clearly, and we need to speak to each other candidly about the state of our party."
Source: Michael Cooper, Republican Governors Regroup and Plan for the Future, International Herald Tribune, 13 November 2008.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: “Pawlenty said that after returning from the campaign trail, he looked at himself in the mirror and complained about what he saw to his wife, Mary.”