Washington Post politics blogger Chris Cillizza, covering the national governors meeting, says Gov. Tim Pawlenty is “widely seen as the current leader in the McCain veepstakes.”

Cillizza posts video of his three-minute interview with Pawlenty, in which they discuss the Pawlenty-McCain relationship and the chances that Minnesota will be in play in the fall. He didn’t get anything surprising out of Pawlenty.

TPaw was on his winsome game. He described Minnesota as a state that has “gone from deep blue to purplish maybe, with a little light blue streak in it” and said that it’s “not beyond credible to say that Minnesota is a competitive political state.”

Pawlenty didn’t answer Cillizza’s question of whether he would agree to join the ticket if asked, saying:

“I support [Sen. John McCain] because I believe he would be a fantastic president for the country, not because I need or want a different job.”

Cillizza did not raise the apparently not-so-awkward question of Pawlenty’s various 2006-7 statements that if re-elected, he would serve his full term as governor.