“It’s taking on more and more of a reality TV component, these races. You’ve got to have not just money but an entertainment component, too. And so I brought forward a record of serious policy approaches, I thought, to the campaign, and at least in that moment in time the electorate is looking for something else.”
– Former Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, on Tuesday’s “The Colbert Report,” offering his explanation of why his campaign lost steam before he dropped out of the 2012 race last month. When asked by comedian Stephen Colbert what he thought about doing to get attention from an electorate that didn’t seem interested in his ideas, he said, “I thought about shooting spartks out of my butt.”
