APNewsBreak: Aide: Pawlenty running for president

[The Straight Story]

APNewsBreak: Aide: Pawlenty running for president


ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a laid-back Midwestern Republican who governed a Democratic-leaning state, is running for president and will declare his candidacy on Monday in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa, an adviser told The Associated Press.

The adviser, who disclosed the plans on the condition of anonymity in advance of next week's announcement, said Pawlenty will formally enter the race during a town hall-style event in Des Moines, Iowa.

He's choosing to make his long-expected bid official in a critical state in his path to the GOP nomination. Advisers acknowledge that Pawlenty, 50, must win or turn in a strong showing during next winter's caucuses in the neighboring state of Iowa to have any chance of becoming the Republican who will challenge President Barack Obama, a Democrat, next November.

After Monday's announcement, he will head to Florida, New Hampshire, New York and Washington, D.C.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43109122

[PATRICK]

1. Strutting for 2016

where he probably knows he will be in a second tier without making his national bones now in some primary contests. Probably would he inwardly horrified if he went the distance to certain electoral defeat in 2012. This can't be easy even for the most self-deluded. But then, it isn't easy for the GOP to allow the most self-deluded to drag the banner into the gutter.