Free Republic

Mitt Romney, his family, staff and supporters donated a combined $66,000 to help Tim Pawlenty retire the debt left over from his presidential campaign. Romney, his wife, five sons and brother, as well as his associates from Bain Capital were among those cutting maximum checks to Pawlenty, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign filings released Tuesday. Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, dropped out of the race last summer after a disappointing showing in the Ames straw poll, and quickly endorsed Romney. At the time, there was talk that Romney’s campaign would help Pawlenty’s retire its debt, then in the...

Speaking om FOX News, citing Romney's business and political experience, Pawlenty, the first major candidate to drop out of the 2012 GOP race, endorsed Romney.

Christie calls TPaw 'serious' candidate By: Maggie Haberman June 25, 2011 02:23 PM EDT Chris Christie has made clear he's not endorsing any candidate for president yet, if ever, but he did have warm words about Tim Pawlenty when asked why his former fellow governor is struggling in terms of polls and fundraising: "Because he was the governor of Minnesota, and a lot of people don’t know him," Christie told POLITICO. "I think anybody who knows Tim Pawlenty [knows] he’s a very serious guy and I think he’s got real life experience, both as a politician and as a person,"...

The conventional wisdom among the political punditry is that 2012 Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney will be hamstrung by the health-insurance plan he helped craft as governor of Massachusetts, which included a mandate to purchase insurance. That may not be true. In conservative circles, the health-insurance mandate has become shorthand for government overreach. But while each GOP presidential hopeful has disavowed it on the campaign trial, in recent days two of Romney’s top competitors — former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who hasn’t declared his candidacy, and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, whose Iowa barnstorming tour is well underway — have faced...

Likely 2012 Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty said Sunday that when he promoted a bailout plan aimed at stabilizing the imploding mortgage market in 2008 he was speaking solely as a surrogate for GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona and never actually supported the idea himself. "Play the tape. It says 'he believes' and I was speaking as a spokesperson for Senator McCain," the former Minnesota governor said on "Fox News Sunday" after host Chris Wallace played video of Pawlenty endorsing what was billed as a bailout for both the mortgage industry and "Main Street." "But I didn’t...

Possible Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty took a jab at Sarah Palin, saying he wouldn’t have used gun crosshairs to target Rep Gabrielle Giffords and others. “It would not have been my style to put the crosshairs on there,” he said on Good Morning America on Tuesday, referring to a map like the one posted last year on Sarah PAC’s website showing crosshairs on Giffords and other lawmakers who supported health care reform.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) has not made a final decision on whether to make a White House bid, but he's laying the groundwork and is confident he could run a serious and well-funded campaign if he decides to go ahead. In a meeting with reporters last week in San Diego, Pawlenty said he is still contemplating whether he is the right person to lead the country out of an economic crisis. "I haven't made a final decision yet. I mean, we're obviously looking at it. But as to whether we do it or don't do it, I'm not going...