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Jack Welch: Just 3 Serious GOP Presidential Contenders Published: Friday, 24 Jun 2011 | 11:52 AM ET Text Size By: Michelle Fox There are three real contenders in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to former General Electric chairman Jack Welch. He thinks Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman will top the GOP ticket in November 2012. “Each of them has their pluses and minuses,” Welch said. “Only time will tell over the next six months of grueling campaigning” who will emerge as the better leader. All are former governors. Pawlenty spent two terms in the Minnesota...

Some in the conservative and progressive camps have harped on former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s reluctance to attack former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s healthcare program to a point where the criticism is suspect. At least it’s suspect if you consider the treatment President Barack Obama is getting right now. Libya? ObamaCare waivers? Setting a world record for federal spending while unemployment remains higher than the rosy picture painted during Obama’s presidential campaign? Green jobs and not the kind that pay off for the US economy? Skyrocketing electricity and food bills? Foreign policy run amok? Regulatory hell? You could fill a...

Does Pawlenty have what it takes to win? By Amy Gardner and and Philip Rucker, Friday, June 17, 7:57 PM Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty wanted to start a fight with the Republican presidential front-runner, and on a Sunday talk show, he did — injecting into the 2012 sweepstakes a new term, “ObamneyCare,” that portrayed Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health-care overhaul and President Obama’s federal law as one and the same. But on Monday, standing next to Romney at a presidential debate, Pawlenty declined to stick with the fight. A wave of criticism ensued, and by Thursday, Pawlenty revived the attack...

Yesterday, Allahpundit noted Tim Pawlenty’s admission on Twitter that he missed an opportunity at Monday’s debate. Later in the evening, Pawlenty appeared on Fox with Sean Hannity, who led into the discussion by defending Pawlenty’s approach in the debate, approving of focusing attacks on Barack Obama rather than other Republicans. Pawlenty disagreed and launched into an attack on Mitt Romney as a “co-conspirator” of ObamaCare (via The Corner):

"The era of small government is over . . . government has to be more proactive, more aggressive." But in 2005, signs of his "progressive" instincts emerged. In a quest for new revenue, Mr. Pawlenty supported a 75 cents per-pack cigarette tax. He called it a "health impact" fee. No one was fooled. User fees are generally charged to ensure that those who use a government service pay for the cost of providing that service. In this case, however, it was obvious that smokers were just being tapped to fund health-care entitlement programs. Following the tax hike, the governor...

Pro-Life Governor Tim Pawlenty Seeks GOP Nomination for 2012 Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota and a pro-life advocate, made his presidential campaign official today with an announcement speech an rally in Iowa, the site of the first votes in the GOP campaign. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/23/pro-life-governor-tim-pawlenty-seeks-gop-nomination-for-2012/

“As President Obama continued his nine-minute address in front of just one main network camera, the photographers were held outside the room by staff and asked to remain completely silent. Once Obama was off the air, we were escorted in front of that teleprompter and the President then re-enacted the walk-out and first 30 seconds of the statement for us.”

Former Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told CNN’s Piers Morgan Tuesday he’s in the race. “I’m running for president,” Pawlenty said in an interview set to air Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on “Piers Morgan Tonight.” “I’m not putting my hat in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for vice president. I’m focused on running for president.” Pawlenty announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee last month.

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Monday unveiled a 16-person national fundraising team studded with veterans of other presidential campaigns, including those of potential rival Mitt Romney. The new team will be led by Brian Haley, who ran Pawlenty's Freedom First PAC fundraising efforts and who served as deputy finance director for the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign in 2008. Katie McBreen, who worked for Romney's 2008 presidential campaign, will be Pawlenty's deputy finance director. Trisha Hamm is Pawlenty's Minnesota finance director. She was his gubernatorial campaign's finance coordinator and political director and also worked on his Freedom First PAC.

Tim Pawlenty’s Facebook site asks people to drop by at 3 ET for “a special message exclusive to Facebook supporters.” CNN reports that the former Minnesota governor will announce his first official step into the 2012 presidential race and become the third Republican to launch an exploratory committee: Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is expected to announce Monday the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, several sources tell CNN. Such a committee allows candidates to start raising money and is seen as the first concrete step towards a run for a party nomination.The formation by Pawlenty has long been expected...

Pro-Life Tim Pawlenty to Start Exploratory Cmte for President Washington, DC -- Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will announce this afternoon that he will create an exploratory commitee to formally cvonsider a bid for the Republican nomination to face pro-abortion President Barack Obama. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/21/pro-life-tim-pawlenty-to-start-exploratory-cmte-for-president/

Pawlenty to keynote large tea party event By: CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser (CNN) - Tim Pawlenty will headline an inaugural policy summit being put on by one of the largest national tea party groups in the U.S. Tea Party Patriots announced Friday morning that the former Minnesota governor and probable 2012 GOP presidential candidate will be the keynote speaker at their event, titled "American Policy Summit-Pathways to Liberty," which is being held February 25-27 in Phoenix, Arizona. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and businessman and radio talk-show host Herman Cain - who are also considering bids for the...

Tim Pawlenty said all the right things during the inaugural “Presidential Lecture Series” event sponsored by The FAMiLY Leader. A crowd of 150 attendees, plus a dozen media members, gathered at Pella Christian High School early Monday afternoon to listen to the former Minnesota governor. The crowd liked what they heard, but was not blown away by Pawlenty’s delivery. If elections were won only on substance, Pawlenty would stand a strong chance in the 2012 Iowa Caucus. However, style matters too. Oratorical skills propelled Barack Obama to the White House in 2008. Pawlenty will need to become a more passionate...

In a sweeping policy departure that aligns with a top agenda item of the newly elected DFL legislative majorities, Gov. Tim Pawlenty called Tuesday for extending health care access to up to 90,000 uninsured children as a step toward coverage for all Minnesotans. "We all, I think, can chart a path toward universal coverage," he said in a luncheon speech to a health reform conference in Minneapolis. "We're going to have to move in stages. ... We should start with covering all kids." snip But the Republican governor's change of course on universal coverage was particularly hailed by DFL...

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) delivered a speech Friday night in St. Charles, Mo., and gave many the impression they were watching a presidential candidate test the waters.

Tim Pawlenty is a mainstream conservative governor in a traditionally liberal state. When I use the term “mainstream,” I mean simply that he is in the mainstream of Minnesota conservatism - decidedly less conservative than the heart of Republicanism in the south, but conservative enough for most of the rest of the GOP. This alone gives him a decent shot as an alternative to either Palin or Romney in the 2012 primaries. Reading this long interview in Esquire, I was struck by the governor’s pragmatism and unflappability. Esquire’s Mark Warren threw enough bait into the water that Pawlenty could have...

As the Republican Governors Association gathers in Austin this week, there is a real sense among conservatives that the Obama Bubble is about to burst. And all eyes are on the assembled governors to see who might do the bursting in 2012. Ever since his 2002 election, I've kept close tabs on Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. As governor, Pawlenty coined the phrase “Sam’s Club Republican,” which Ross Douthat and I later used to refer to a strain of Republicanism that aims to meet the needs of working and middle class voters. In an interview with the Ripon Society, a storied...

Pawlenty knocked (again) for pandering to GOP base Gov. Pawlenty’s recent efforts to pander to the conservative GOP base is “Romneyesque,” observes veteran Washington Post political reporter Dan Balz. He warns that Pawlenty is in danger of losing his political compass as he attempts to position himself for a 2012 presidential bid.In particular, Balz criticizes T-Paw for his awkward refusal to embrace Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe as a member in good standing of the GOP during a recent television appearance. He also dings Pawlenty for eagerly wading into the recent congressional contest in upstate New York and for criticizing President...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, will be in New Hampshire next month, raising speculation that he is preparing for a presidential run. Pawlenty will be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for the Republican Senate Majority Committee, which will be held Dec. 16 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. . . . . . Mike Dennehy, a former adviser to McCain's 2008 campaign and a political consultant for Senate Republicans, is helping to organize the event, which will cost $50 a ticket."We set the price to attract as many people who would like to come," Dennehy said.