Palin is Old News but Pawlenty has a Chance Against Obama

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

It's the new kids on the block, not the 2008 GOP retreads, who are winning the attention of the 2012 presidential pickers in the tea-party movement. "I think Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee are old news," says Dick Armey, the former House GOP leader who chairs FreedomWorks, one of the larger tea-party organizers. Talking to us from his home in Texas, Armey suggests that three governors are poised to win over the movement and potentially get the nomination to take on President Obama. "I don't know for sure who it is, but I've had my eye on [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Pawlenty because Pawlenty has the opportunity to be a blank slate," says Armey. He also likes Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, both fiscal hawks. "Haley is an absolute natural for this movement," says Armey. As for Palin, he says, "I don't think she intends to run for president."

• See photos of Sarah Palin and her family.