Washington Post ranks Pawlenty as #1 VP contender

The Washington Post has ranked Tim Pawlenty as the top contender to be John McCain's VP nominee. I'd post a link, but subscription is required. Other names on the list include Florida Governor Charlie Crist and South Dakota Senator John Thune. There is a theme emerging -- youthfulness. It is clear that the VP nominee will need to balance McCain's more, shall we say "seasoned" quality.

On the Democratic side, the top ranking for the VP slot goes to Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. In 3rd place is Hillary Clinton, so it is assumed that Obama is the nominee.

At the state level, one has to wonder if Pawlenty on the ticket would give coattails to local and congressional Republican candidates.

Transportation Bill Passes

In what was one of the more interesting vote sequences at the Capitol, the Legislature overrode Governor Pawlenty's veto of the transportation bill yesterday.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/25/veto/

Democrats felt that a cash infusion was needed, in addition to the bonding which Republicans supported, to accelerate the improvement and expansion of transportation in Minnesota. Republicans felt that bonding would allow for a better investment, and felt that the taxes in the bill were regressive.

In the end, we'll have the first gas tax increase in years and a small metro-wide increase in the sales tax.