Tim Pawlenty runs for NHL Commissioner in new ad [VIDEO]

Pawlenty loves hockey more than America does.

​Tim Pawlenty's new ad, which starts running in Iowa today, is all about hockey.

Clips of the U.S. national team from the 1980 Olympics, the famed "Miracle on Ice" -- including Al Michaels' line, "Do you believe in miracles?" --  and other hockey action are spliced in with clips of T-Paw standing outside in the cold.

This "hockey tough guy" schtick would all be a pretty great identity for Pawlenty, if, for example, he'd been good enough to make his high school varsity team, or if he was running for Prime Minister of Canada.

As it is, Pawlenty's running an ad about hockey in a state that doesn't really care about hockey.

Get used to it. Pawlenty's been pushing his hockey cred for a while now, and only a couple months ago said he chose running for president over the other option to "play hockey and drink beer."

"You fight, you bleed, you prevail," Pawlenty says in his ad.

Then he brags, again, about shutting down the Minnesota government in 2005.

The only thing worse would be suggesting that in order to win the nomination, he needs a miracle.