"It’s a fundamentally different race because last time it was Mitt vs. the also-rans"

“It’s a fundamentally different race because last time it was Mitt vs. the also-rans, and the also-rans were unlikely to be successful because of a lack of resources or obvious limitations,” Pawlenty said. “This time, most of the field is going to be able to raise the threshold of money to run a credible campaign in a handful of states, so it’s going to be a more competitive campaign because they’re more evenly resourced, and this is going to be a more credible field of candidates.”…

But just as any successful basketball team strives to dictate their games’ pace, candidates will play to their strength, emphasizing their appeal to the most simpatico segment of the party. 

On this front, Pawlenty offered some advice — perhaps based on his own experiences — to the prospective competitors in 2016.  

“The premise has always been that [the more conservative] type of candidate probably can’t overcome the so-called establishment candidate, but that’s changing, as the energy at the grassroots level in the party is trending libertarian,” Pawlenty said. “If you can only appeal to one or the other, you’re likely to fail, so I think the secret formula is to have overwhelming or significant support in one without scaring the other camp.”