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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.

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...

Many of you have seen the new bumper stickers from various conservative groups that goes something like this: OBAMA = One Big A$$ Mistake, America! That definition has now been added to UrbanDictionary.com, and with your help, it can be "thumbed-up" to the top-ranking position. Left-wingers succeeded in labeling Bush as a "failure." But we can turn the tables and get America to realize that Obama really is one big mistake! Click here to give this new definition the "thumbs-up." Thanks!

As the team on Gov. Pawlenty’s now concluded presidential campaign works to recoup a campaign debt of some half-million dollars, their fingers have begun pointing toward the campaign’s manager, Nick Ayers, as the person to blame for the decisions that put the campaign into debt — and, by many accounts, as simply an unpleasant human being to work with. “I would blame him 100 percent for racking up the debt,” said one senior staff member of the Pawlenty campaign. Ayers declined to weigh in on that statement, or any of the others made in this story. “I believe a campaign...

Big name support came Monday for the two men at the top of the GOP race. Rick Perry picks up the endorsement of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney gets a new national co-chair in a former rival. "There are many reasons I'm endorsing Mitt Romney for president," said Tim Pawlenty in remarks delivered in South Carolina. Pawlenty left his mark on the 2012 race with the phrase Obamneycare but said Monday Romney is the candidate who can turn the economy around. Pawlenty ended his bid last month, out of money and in third place in the Iowa Straw...

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) endorsed former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) on Monday. Pawlenty, who dropped out of the presidential race after a disappointing showing in the influential Iowa Straw Poll, called Romney "the complete package" and said that Romney's economic experience was a deciding factor in winning his endorsement. "I believe he is going to be our party's nominee," Pawlenty said on Fox News's "Fox and Friends." "I think he's going to be a transformational and great president for this country," Pawlenty added. Pawlenty also said he would not consider being the Republican vice presidential nominee. In...

He may have dropped out of the running for the presidency, but Tim Pawlenty isn't sitting on the sidelines - the former presidential candidate has endorsed Mitt Romney for president... "There's one candidate in this race who's unmatched in his skills and experience and talent when it comes to turning around this economy and growing jobs, and that's Mitt Romney," Pawlenty said. "I believe he's going to be our party's nominee, and I think he's going to be a transformational and great president for this country." Romney's private sector experience, Pawlenty said, was a deciding factor in his endorsement, along...

Presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty, also known as "T-Paw", has confessed to a dazzling love affair with the gay activist and pop artist Lady Gaga - with her music that is. In a video interview with the entertainment website Glittarazzi, he said: “Well you know, in terms of the beat, I like ‘Bad Romance. I gotta say, even though she’s a little unusual, ‘Born this Way’ has some appeal. She’s actually very talented. Now if you go to the end of the HBO special, the Lady Gaga HBO special, and you watch her sing a cappella “Born This Way,” she can...

Since Tim Pawlenty ended his bid for the presidency last Sunday, his former staffers and key fundraisers have held off from endorsing another candidate or moving to another campaign. There’s a reason. Team Pawlenty is waiting on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to make a decision about entering the field as a presidential candidate, The Daily Caller learned Friday. Key staffers who formerly made up the Pawlenty campaign have been in discussions with Christie all week and the talks are still ongoing, sources told TheDC. They are reportedly very anxious to have Christie officially place his hat in the ring....

Since Tim Pawlenty ended his bid for the presidency last Sunday, his former staffers and key fundraisers have held off from endorsing another candidate or moving to another campaign. There’s a reason. Team Pawlenty is waiting on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to make a decision about entering the field as a presidential candidate, The Daily Caller learned Friday. Key staffers who formerly made up the Pawlenty campaign have been in discussions with Christie all week and the talks are still ongoing, sources told TheDC. They are reportedly very anxious to have Christie officially place his hat in the ring....

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Wednesday definitively ruled out a 2012 campaign for the U.S. Senate after ending his Republican bid for the White House a few days ago. Some Republicans, including state GOP chairman Tony Sutton, were hoping Pawlenty would get right back into the ring and take on freshman Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar next year. "I don't know what I will be doing next," Pawlenty said in an email to The Associated Press. "However, I will not be running against Amy in 2012."

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....

Bachmann wins, Pawlenty is out. What do learn from the Iowa straw poll? Whatever political moderation existed in the Republican Party, it rapidly disappearing as the GOP is being remade in the image of Palin and Bachmann. Bachmann The headline clearly is that Bachmann received nearly 29% of the vote. No surprise there. Bachmann has narrative that clearly appeals to a demographic of social conservatives and Tea Party members. For months I argued that mobilizing this vocal and active segment of the part would make Bachmann a major force in Iowa. With a divided field she had captured a large...

Tim Pawlenty is exiting the race for the White House the same way he came in — on a tidal wave of conventional wisdom. He was too even-tempered, they say, to catch on with a white-hot electorate. He was too level-headed, they say, to connect with a grassroots that’s gone to extremes. He was a nice guy — “boring,” in the parlance of our times — so he finished last. Breaking news: The conventional wisdom is wrong. Pawlenty’s personality problem wasn’t a charisma deficit — it was a wimpiness surplus. But the wimp factor is meaningless relative to the flaw...

Somewhere between 6 p.m. Saturday and his morning announcement of the end of his presidential campaign, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty must have had a very sobering conversation. Pawlenty had been trying to find a silver lining in his third-place finish, far behind Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, in Saturday's Iowa straw poll. His first comment — a very brief congratulatory tweet: "Congrats to Rep. Bachmann on win. Our campaign needed to show progress and we did. I'm eager for the campaign ahead." That was followed by an e-mail message to his supporters. "As I said all along we needed...

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Bachman bests Paul. Pawlenty third. Romney fourth. Works for me!

With Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul leading the Ames Straw Poll and Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Herman Cain next -- ahead of Rick Perry and Mitt Romney -- only the local buttermilk cows should be holding their heads high. Sometimes Iowa picks 'em -- and some times not. Today NOT. In the GOP-sort out straw poll held in Ames, Iowa, Tea Party diva Michele Bachmann bested libertarian favorite Ron Paul as the winner. But more importantly, no one in the top 5 had any real chance of leading a 2012 GOP ticket. Iowa is making itself irrelevant in the...

So much for "Minnesota Nice".

AMES, Iowa (AP) - Fellow Minnesotans Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann directly challenged each other at the GOP debate in Iowa, with Pawlenty calling her a failure and Bachmann likening her Republican competitor to President Barack Obama. The two sparred face-to-face during Thursday's debate, just two days before the crucial early test vote in Ames. The exchange began with a question whether the two have pushed the limit of civility, known as "Minnesota nice."