Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is a dedicated Lady Gaga fan, he revealed in an interview with Glittarazzi.com. When asked what his favorite Gaga song is, Pawlenty explained, "Well you know, in terms of the beat, I like 'Bad Romance'... I gotta say, even though she's a little unusual, 'Born this Way' has some appeal. She's actually very talented. Now if you go to the end of the HBO special, the Lady Gaga HBO special, and you watch her sing a cappella 'Born This Way,' she can sing. She can definitely sing. She's talented. ... Interesting. Talented. A little weird."

Pawlenty acknowledged that he had to expand his playlist outside of like-minded bands. After all, he said, "if you had to limit your artistic choices to just conservatives, you wouldn't have many choices." (Michele Bachmann recently learned that artists do not always share that bipartisan spirit.) Of course, Pawlenty had to say that his favorite music artist of all time is uncontroversial Bruce Springsteen.

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Elspeth Reeve