Thursday's announcement by Gov. Tim Pawlenty that there would be no special legislative session in St. Paul after the close of business Monday set off a whirlwind of point-and-counterpoint exchanges at the Capitol.

In short, Pawlenty said he would make use of his line-item veto pen and even use his power to "unallot" – “defunding” previously set budgets--to balance the state's coffers on time.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, countered that Pawlenty should make his potential cuts known to the public before the end of the session, asking in vain for the governor to appear in front of her Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy late Thursday.

It may look like political cat-and-mouse, but Thursday evening, two House Republicans warned that Pawlenty is not bluffing.

"That's what he really meant," said Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington."People who think this is a negotiating tactic have got rocks in their heads."

If Pawlenty makes good on his stance, offered Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, there will be pain, but ultimately some gubernatorial gain.

"I think there's going to be a lot of frustrated people," Emmer said. "But the governor's popularity will go back up. He'll say, 'I had to get it done.' "

In Emmer's view, Pawlenty has given the DFL leadership ample time to get its budget together by the end-of-session deadline Monday.

"Honestly, I think he's just tired of waiting for a plan from them," Emmer said.

Pawlenty, for his part, sent a letter Thursday to DFL leadership declaring, "You characterized my announcement this afternoon as an 'offer.' It was not an offer, it was a decision."

In other words, indications are the governor is no longer in a mood to negotiate.

"From his perspective, they haven't been serious," Garofalo said of his DFL counterparts.