Pawlenty officially announced his plans to run for president in Iowa last week getting out of that testing the waters phase in which most candidates began their candidacy. With Huckabee out and Palin still on the fence, Pawlenty could win over the tea party voters hearts. With many high-profile candidates out of the way Pawlenty’s chances at securing the nomination are much higher.
With two gubernatorial wins in Minnesota, which is often referred to as a swing state, Pawlenty shows electability at the national level. He is married to Mary Pawlenty and they are raising their two daughters, Anna and Mara, together. Pawlenty was born a Roman Catholic, but converted to being Baptist to match his wife’s faith. Pawlenty is a social conservative and now a devout evangelical Christian; he regularly attends Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie.
Pawlenty is a religious conservative and will protect the sanctity of marriage if he were to be president of the United States. He disagrees with civil unions, gay marriage and would reenact the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy in the military. As governor he created a 24 wait law for women who apply to have an abortion, which was as much as he could accomplish in such a liberal leaning state. However Pawlenty has stated that the Roe V Wade verdict was ultimately the wrong decision. At a March for Life rally in 2006 he said, “We have a dream today that someday soon this will not be an anniversary of sadness, but an anniversary of justice restored.”
The former Minnesota governor also made major strides to reform the budget crisis in his state by cutting spending and programs to ultimately wipe out the state’s deficit. In his first term he didn’t raise taxes a single cent, but managed to fix a 4.7 billion dollar state deficit. In his second term he cut government waste even further and reduced unnecessary programs to erase nearly 3 billion dollars of debt. His fight wasn’t easy making these cuts as he had to face the popular DFL party, a faction of the Democratic Party. He squared off with them on budget concerns causing a shutdown of the state government in 2005.
Polls show Pawlenty as a Tea Party favorite amongst Tea Party voters. He places sixth just below five unlikely candidates that have either stated they won’t run or are suspected not to make the bid for president in 2012. More interesting, the latest online Tea Party Straw Poll shows that Pawlenty is leading Sarah Palin, who placed ninth. Pawlenty recently warned republicans to follow Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment which is, “Republicans Shall Not Speak Ill of Each Other.”
Derek Thomas is the editor in chief of republican2012.org and is writing the most up-to-date news about the upcoming election. You can show your support for the Republican 2012 candidates by writing your opinions on the site. For more Tim Pawlenty information go to 2012 republican presidential candidates.