Tim Pawlenty

Is it too late for Mitt Romney to ask Tim Pawlenty to endorse Rick Perry instead? On Monday, the former Minnesota governor and, until the Iowa straw poll, presidential contender endorsed Romney's presidential bid. As best I can tell, reaction from rank-and-file Republicans does not suggest that a resulting tectonic shift in the polls toward Romney is imminent. According to legend, Josef Stalin asked, "How many divisions does the pope have?" Upon hearing the Pawlenty news, no doubt Perry said something similar, albeit with a Texan flavor.

Just weeks after abandoning his campaign for president, Tim Pawlenty is injecting himself back in the race with an endorsement of Mitt Romney. The expression of support for his former foe is a quick turnabout for the former Minnesota governor, who earlier this summer lampooned Romney over his healthcare reform plan, which Pawlenty called "Obamneycare. " It also comes as the GOP race for president has entered a newly competitive phase between Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, and Rick Perry, the current governor of Texas.

Say what you will about the Iowa straw poll — and we could say plenty, including that it's the political equivalent of Groundhog Day, that its results don't predict outcomes in the state's winter caucus because its participants are an unrepresentative sample of voters, and that it's a cynical way for Iowa's Republican Party to raise money — but you can't say it's insignificant. Just ask Tim Pawlenty. The former governor of Minnesota dropped out of the GOP nomination race Sunday after a disappointing third-place finish in Ames, behind Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

On Saturday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry got into the race for the GOP presidential nomination, and within 24 hours, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty got out. Perry didn't exactly chase Pawlenty out of the race; the Iowa straw poll (in which T-Paw finished a distant third) did that. But the two developments are closely related. They're linked by the fact that Barack Obama is very beatable. A lot of the preliminary autopsies of the Pawlenty campaign focus on two lines of argument.

Fomer Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is now off the presidential campaign trail, following a lackluster showing in last weekend's Ames straw poll. But if he wants to hit the road again, he can fall back on the fruitful paid speaking circuit. Pawlenty made more than $250,000 from speaking engagements this year, according to his personal financial disclosure report released today by the Federal Election Commission. He also made $342,000 in royalty payments for his book, "Courage to Stand," which was published last January.

Rep. Steve King, an influential religious conservative in Iowa, said Sunday that one of the reasons that Tim Pawlenty didn't receive more support from voters in his state is because he's part of an establishment wing of the party that is struggling in the wake of widespread discontent with Washington. “I feel bad for [Pawlenty]. It has to be a kick in the stomach,”  said King, who thought Michele Bachmann got the better of Pawlenty at Thursday's debate. “He put in a good effort and had a good organization, but he just didn't connect.” Many of Pawlenty's supporters backed Mitt Romney four years ago, and this year both men have seemed to have trouble exciting the Iowa Republican base, King said.

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, will end his bid for the GOP nomination after a disapppointing third place finish in the Ames Iowa Straw Poll. In a conference call with supporters, Pawlenty explained how his campaign needed a boost in the Ames poll, which it had failed to get. Pawlenty finished a distant third, behind Reps. Michele Bachman and Ron Paul of Texas. Pawlenty had pitched his canidacy as the one which could unite the GOP's different conservative streams.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry offered words of support for Tim Pawlenty during his visit to a family festival in New Hampshire Sunday, stating that he hoped to win Pawlenty's endorsement in his presidential bid and calling the former Minnesota governor a great friend. Perry, who served with Pawlenty on the executive council of the Republican Governors Assn. working to elect more Republican governors across the country, said they had traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan together and "spent a lot of quality personal time.

After finishing a distant third place in the crucial Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty withdrew from the presidential race Sunday, telling supporters and friends that after much prayer with his wife, he did not see a way forward. Pawlenty, who announced his decision to donors and supporters on a conference call Sunday morning, had centered his campaign on his neighboring state of Iowa, hoping that his credentials as a social and fiscal conservative would give him broad appeal to first-in-the-nation caucus-goers.

A parade of candidates stopped by the breakfast of Iowa conservative women, with Michele Bachmann drawing the loudest applause, reciting her promise to stand with "a titanium spine" to slow government spending, reduce taxes and "repeal Obamacare. "  She and her husband, Marcus, made a brief appearance at the "Voices of Conservative Women" event held at a hotel adjacent to the Iowa State University campus. "We will get 'er done," Bachmann said, exiting the hotel ballroom just before her fellow Minnesotan, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty entered flanked by supporters wearing trademark green Pawlenty T-shirts.