Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, is set to boost his ultra-conservative credentials this weekend, putting in an appearance at the Western CPAC conference — where he’ll be in some pretty interesting company.
Tonight, for example, Pawlenty will be featured at a private VIP reception, which also include none other than Floyd Brown. For those of you who have not heard of him, Brown was the originator of the Willie Horton ad against Mike Dukakis in 1988, and currently runs the Web sites Expose Obama and the Impeach Obama Campaign, which warns: “how long should we sit back and permit Barack Hussein Obama to rip apart the fabric of this country before we take action?”
Pawlenty will also keynote a dinner, with other remarks by Ralph Reed — the former head of the Christian Coalition and ex-business partner of Jack Abramoff.
Pawlenty has been slowly but surely shedding his prior image as a friendly, perhaps even moderate Republican — for example, he hinted at possible Tenth Amendment challenges to health care reform. This is just another step on that journey of courting the party base.
