All Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty needed to escape from the crabby, gay-sweatery shadow of John McCain was for an eight-lane bridge to collapse during rush hour in his state's busiest city. Now, the Gopher State governor is again being talked about as a possible running mate for GOP wannabes, even if McCain isn't the Republican nominee.

Long McCain's presumed choice for VP, Pawlenty's ambitions—like that of all McCain loyalists—have been dampened as the Arizona senator has struggled to gain traction on the national stage. While other chums of the Arizona senator have distanced themselves from McCain, Pawlenty is riding the old battleship straight to the bottom as co-chairman of McCain's campaign.

After the I-35 bridge collapse two weeks ago, Pawlenty became a fixture in the national media, boosting his profile to the point where some insiders think that Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani would consider adding Pawlenty to their tickets, despite his loyal support for McCain. Says one in-the-know Washingtonian, "Pawlenty has been a big supporter for McCain, but he's never been a bomb-thrower towards the other candidates.... He comes from a region of the country that is increasingly in play, and it's a place where [Romney and Giuliani] are really going to struggle to be competitive. I think he'd compliment both those guys pretty well on a ticket, and they realize that."

Those close to Minnesota politics tell Radar that even if Pawlenty manages to land on a spot a the GOP ticket, he'll face questions for his inauspicious record during his time as governor. Democrats are grousing about Pawlenty's past vetoes of bills to improve Minnesota's infrastructure, while his statement that "Everything is on the table," to generate new money for the state's roads has some in Republican circles worried that Pawlenty is thinking about raising taxes.

As one operative puts it, "Talking about raising taxes is one of the worst thing a Republican with national ambitions can talk about.... They're coming around on Giuliani supporting abortion and gay marriage, but if he said he'd raise taxes 20 bucks a year, he'd be polling down with Tommy Thompson."