Pawlenty wishes GOP caucuses carried more weight

The GOP vote will be more of a straw poll because the results are non-binding.

Pawlenty said the idea of making the GOP presidential caucus more binding has come up before and never gained much traction.

"It would be good if it had some deeper level of commitment other than a non-binding straw ballot."

But he said it's worth reviewing, especially because Republicans this year produced no immediate front-runner.

"It seems to me if you're going to invite everybody to come out and spend the evening in February to commit themselves to a caucus and to vote for a presidential candidate, it would be good if it had some deeper level of commitment other than a non-binding straw ballot," he said at an event Thursday morning.

Currently, delegates for the national convention aren't picked until the party's state convention in May, which Pawlenty said means nothing because the nominee is known by then.

The non-binding vote also has the effect of likely keeping John McCain from campaigning in Minnesota, despite Pawlenty's own endorsement of McCain at an early stage in the campaign.

Voting on the DFL side is binding.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlidePrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide