Via The NY Times:
Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, told supporters on a conference call Sunday morning that he is ending his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination after a disappointing third-place finish at the Iowa straw poll.
Mr. Pawlenty thanked his supporters in an early-morning call, two participants said, but acknowledged that he had decided overnight that his candidacy could not proceed.
As I have made clear before, I liked Tim Pawlenty, and it is unfortunate he was unable to get traction.
Not sure who this helps the most. My guess is that the Pawlenty money-supporters will split between Perry and Romney.
What do you think?
Update: via C4P:
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Comments
EdMorrissey MN GOP chair: I’ll ask @TimPawlenty to run for Senate seat, after a couple of weeks http://t.co/cLpZ91n #tcot (update)
about 1 hour ago
Bachmann WINS, and she’s going nowhere? What sort of race is this? Yes, I know the straw poll is just a political “beauty contest,” but still, you can’t win if you don’t run. And if you DO win, then that says something positive about you as a candidate, your campaign, and your positions.
Then we get the argument (here expressed by Towson Lawyer) that those who got less than 10% ought to drop out. Again, a process that winnows out the losers but does nothing for the winner, is an odd process? To use a football analogy, it’s only the first 2 minutes of the first quarter. Let’s at least make it to half-time before anticipating the final score.
For the record, I could go with Bachmann, Palin, Gingrich, and Perry, more or less in the that order. For now, Bachmann gets my nod over Palin because *she’s in the race*.
When Palin gets into the race, what will be the new “spin” from the naysayers??? It’s getting to be a comical game from them.
I think that there are entirely too many people calling this horse race as if it’s in the final stretch, when the candidates are nowhere near the starting gates. (See: http://pollinsider.com/2011/08/13/palin-and-romney-know-the-same-thing-few-are-paying-attention-perry-should-enjoy-it-now/ )
@RealClearScott Scott Conroy
@kasie asks if the race comes down to Perry & Romney, who would she support? Palin: “I don’t see that happening.”
Hmm.
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