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Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said he thinks Sarah Palin is “a political rock star,” even if she stole his thunder in ’08, when he was widely considered a shoo-in for John McCain’s VP nomination. In a new interview with Newsweek, Pawlenty opens up about the woman who eclipsed him—and who could steal his thunder for a 2012 presidential run, as well. “You guys are obsessed with Palin,” he told his interviewer, adding that he realized before the media did that he wouldn’t get McCain’s vice-presidential nod—and before McCain deigned to inform him. “[I realized it] when they didn’t take me out of the slot to speak in Denver outside the Democratic convention only days before ours was starting. I didn’t just fall off the rutabaga cart, so I figured it out.” But with the bulk of the GOP’s 2012 energy focused on scene-stealing Palin and the deep-pocketed Mitt Romney, Pawlenty admits, “There is a legitimate question about whether somebody who is basically unknown, isn't independently wealthy, isn’t famous, would have a chance.”