Pawlenty looking at presidential run

From STAR/TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON-Gov. Tim Pawlenty, mulling a White House run in 2012, will head next month to the historical proving ground for most start-up presidential campaigns -- Iowa. Pawlenty will be the featured guest for the Iowa GOP's signature fall event, titled, "Leadership for Iowa," on Nov. 7 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

Although he has traveled extensively across the country to introduce himself to Republican voters, this will be Pawlenty's first foray to the early caucus state since announcing that he would not seek a third term. The Iowa caucuses will formally kick off the 2012 presidential election as it does every four years.

"This is just one in many visits to Iowa by Republicans this time around who are testing the waters, seeing how they play in this pre-campaign stage" said Cary Covington, political science professor at the University of Iowa.

Political observers have been waiting for Pawlenty to make a move in either Iowa or New Hampshire, both critical battlegrounds in presidential politics.

A potential 2012 rival, Massachusetts Republican Mitt Romney, finished second in the Iowa caucuses last year behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who could also be a contender in 2012. That was the same order of finish in a straw poll of conservative voters at the recent Values Voters Summit in Washington. Pawlenty, facing the first test of his nationwide appeal, tied for second with several other candidates and landed one vote behind Romney.