Pawlenty Previews Pro-McCain Pitch

GOPer's blue-collar background makes Minnesota Governor potential V.P. pick.

ByABC News
July 24, 2008, 3:33 PM

July 25, 2008— -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty doesn't want you to think that his wife calls him by the pet name "Forty-Five," as in 45th president of the United States.

"She never did. Now that was a joke," Pawlenty told ABC News, referring to comments made in April by the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "Ken Mehlman said that in an introduction as a joke. She never said that. It got translated by bloggers into something that had actually been said."

Minnesota's Republican governor has catapulted to the top of Sen. John McCain's V.P. list through humble roots, not vaulting ambition. And the son of a truck driver doesn't want that to change.

His claim to fame in national political circles is his assertion that Republicans should be the party of "Sam's Club and not just the country club."

In an Aug. 6 speech to the National Press Club, the Minnesota governor will elaborate on the "Sam's Club" theme and discuss how the GOP can reach working class voters, including the women McCain's pollster has dubbed "Wal-Mart moms."

During a recent swing through Washington, D.C., Pawlenty, 47, spoke with ABC News about what McCain needs to do to reach working class voters who are worried about the country's direction.

"It really is a reworking of the Reagan Democrats," said Pawlenty. "I always bring it back to my family."

"One of my brothers, for much of his career, was a refinery worker and he works as a municipal worker, and my other brother worked for 40 years in a grocery store, and they're both union members," Pawlenty continued. "My sister is a one-on-one aid for public schools, and my other sister has been a secretary for 40 years, and so I used to ask them when we were younger, you know, 'How do you feel about politics?'

"And they'd say things like, 'Well, I really don't want my taxes raised. I don't necessarily buy into the whole kind of more liberal approach to social issues. I don't want the government taking over the whole health care system.' In the case of my brothers, they like to hunt and fish, they don't want anybody messing with their guns; and they'd say, 'I'm voting Democrat.'"