The Washington Post looks at Minnesota’s two Republican presidential hopefuls and notes an ongoing pattern:

… Bachmann’s passion and conviction outshone Pawlenty’s more cautious, methodical ways from the moment she stormed the state legislature nearly a decade ago.

Reporter Amy Gardner, in a story datelined South St. Paul, Minn., continues:

Then, as now, Pawlenty said he was conservative, yet Bachmann seemed to say it more loudly. He talked about his faith, and she talked about hers more. He said he was a true believer, but Bachmann was somehow more believable.

And the former governor has to deal with that:

Pawlenty’s challenge is winning the kind of passionate support that comes so naturally to Bachmann, particularly among an electorate more apt to respond to tea party calls to action than establishment support.

 It has been difficult for him on the stump, where he continues to lag in all public polls. Back in Minnesota, he won two terms as governor without gaining 50 percent of the vote, and even in his home town, voters struggled to feel a connection.