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Pawlenty derides Obama’s ’minimalist’ energy plan

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, often mentioned as a potential running mate for Sen. John McCain, promoted McCain’s energy policy and critiqued his rival’s as he campaigned across Wisconsin on Monday.

Pawlenty said Democratic Sen. Barack Obama would “slam the door shut” on additional nuclear power and offshore drilling if elected president because of his conditional support for those options.

McCain’s plans to open more U.S. coastal waters to exploration for oil and gas and to add 45 nuclear power plants by 2030 would do more reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, he said.

“Sen. McCain’s proposal is bold, it’s aggressive, it’s an all of the above approach,” Pawlenty told reporters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he toured a nuclear reactor used for research. “Sen. Obama has taken a very minimalist, or none of the above, or very few of the above approaches.”

Pawlenty’s visit to Wisconsin — where the candidates are competing for 10 electoral votes — comes amid intense speculation that McCain is considering him as his No. 2. On Monday, Pawlenty also hosted Republican Party fundraisers in Madison and Milwaukee and spoke to GOP volunteers in Waukesha.

U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, a Democrat from Wausau, said Pawlenty’s fundraising would help Republicans continue to air false television ads attacking Obama. Recent ads wrongly suggest Obama would raise middle-class taxes when he would cut them more than McCain, Obey said.

“(Pawlenty) has called for a civil and respectful campaign and yet virtually every time I turn on the television set, I see ads that are on the part of McCain that are grossly misleading,” he said in a conference call arranged by Obama’s campaign.