Marathon Pundit: Pawlenty drops out of race

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Pawlenty drops out of race

Pawlenty at CPAC

After a disappointing distant third place finish in the Ames Straw Poll, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for president.

"What I brought forward, I thought, was a rational, established, credible, strong record of results, based on experience governing — a two-term governor of a blue state. But I think the audience, so to speak, was looking for something different," Pawlenty said on ABC's "This Week."

Pawlenty summed himself up well. I met "T-Paw" at CPAC and participated in a bloggers' briefing with him. He came across much more charismatic one-to-one than he does on television. Pawlenty is a good man and would have made, in my opinion, a good president. But he just didn't catch fire. Sometimes things happen that way.

Another candidate, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, issued a statement on Pawlenty's withdrawal:

Tim Pawlenty is an accomplished governor, a proud conservative, and someone of tremendous character. Our families became close while we were serving together as governors and we are honored to call the Pawlentys dear friends. I know this wasn't an easy decision for Tim and Mary, and I wish them nothing but the best.

Tim should be proud that he brought to this race ambitious solutions to turn around our nation's economy and to tackle debt and spending. I hope that all of his supporters continue to stay engaged in this defining election and work with us to ensure that our party wins in November.