Free Republic

A freshman state legislator joined a Republican field seeking a U.S. Senate seat Thursday, setting his sights on a robust Minnesota network for presidential candidate Ron Paul as a possible route to the party nomination. State Rep. Kurt Bills announced his campaign on a busy intersection in Rosemount, just up the street from a high school where he teaches an early morning economics course before heading to the state Capitol each day. The former city council member said he'd make the nation's debt and deficit the focus of his campaign, though he wouldn't offer hints of how he'd solve it....

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination this week, will not take on Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in 2012. Pawlenty told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he did not know what his future plans would be, but he would “not be running against Amy in 2012.” Pawlenty told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that he was ending his presidential campaign after placing third in the Ames straw poll in Iowa the day before. “I wish it would have been different. But, obviously, the pathway forward for me doesn’t really exist....