Pawlenty: You also need not just the entertainer-in-chief, you need somebody who can actually be president

CNN’s Erin Burnett spoke with Romney supporter Tim Pawlenty about the night’s big races. A full transcript from the interview will be posted on CNN.com.

Please credit all usage of the interview to CNN’s Erin Burnett, OutFront

EMBEDDABLE VIDEO: http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2012/03/13/of-pawlenty-southern-vote.cnn.html

Highlight from Full Interview
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED

BURNETT:  Governor, and I hear your points.  But it does seem the Republican Party has a — has a real issue and potentially a bigger split or, you know, more existential question coming its way.  But you look at the exit polls tonight, Alabama and Mississippi, 55 percent of the people in Alabama, Mitt Romney is not conservative enough; 52 percent of them in Mississippi.

It does seem, it is — the numbers show it.  We’ve seen it in every state.  The truly conservative base of your party does not seem to be supporting Mitt Romney.

PAWLENTY:  Well, I would encourage you, Erin, to, before you make a final judgment about that, to look at the results tonight, because if it turns out that Mitt wins one or both of those states, your premise could be undermined immediately.  I mean if Mitt Romney does well in those Southern states tonigthe script gets rewritten.  I mean that’s a breakthrough moment and really defies what your question just suggested.

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