Pawlenty drops out of presidential race

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

DES MOINES – Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the Republican presidential contest this morning following a disappointing finish in yesterday’s Iowa straw poll.

“I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn’t really exist so we are going to end the campaign,” Pawlenty said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Pawlenty, at one point seen as a top contender for the nomination, never really gained traction in the race.

“There are a lot of other choices in the race,” he said this morning. “The audience, so to speak, was looking for something different.”

His campaign began with high hopes that he would be able to court votes using his everyman appeal and his experience as governor of a liberal state. He talked frequently of being a “Sam’s Club Republican,” and tried to contrast himself with front-runner Mitt Romney.

He spent weeks campaigning throughout Iowa, visiting coffee shops and GOP dinners. He hired a top-rate team of consultants in the state and began going through the long slog of organizing supporters and getting them signed up.

Tim Pawlenty

But in yesterday’s straw poll – which is nonbinding but symbolically significant – he placed a disappointing third, trailing fellow Minnesotan, Representative Michele Bachmann, and Representative Ron Paul, of Texas.

He issued a brief statement last night congratulating Bachmann, and saying, “We made progress in moving from the back of the pack into a competitive position for the caucuses, but we have a lot more work to do.”

In a message to supporters last night, with a subject line of, “Just the Beginning,” Pawlenty tried to make clear that he had no intensions of dropping out of the race.

“We are now moving onto the next phase of our campaign,” he wrote. “Over the coming weeks we will be visiting New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida while continuing to grow our already strong ground game in Iowa.”

But by this morning, that calculation had changed, apparently due to a daunting task of convincing top donors to continue investing in his campaign.

“Obviously, we had some success raising money, but we needed to continue that, and Ames was a benchmark for that,” Pawlenty said in the interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper. “And if we didn’t do well in Ames, we weren’t going to have the fuel to keep the car going down the road.”

He said on the program that he would probably endorse another candidate at some point. He also said he would not want to be considered as a vice presidential pick. In 2008, he was on the shortlist to be John McCain’s running mate, before being bypassed for Sarah Palin.

“I’ve been down that road before,” Pawlenty said. “That’s not something I’m even going to consider.”

Pawlenty’s decision adds further clarity to the shape of the presidential field. Bachmann emerges with significant momentum after solid debate performances and a big win in yesterday’s straw poll. Texas Governor Rick Perry also entered the race yesterday, and will make his first visit to Iowa today where he will appear at the same event as Bachmann.

Both Perry and Bachmann are emerging as the most likely contenders to take on Romney’s role as the national front-runner in the race.