With an Eye on 2012, Pawlenty Heads to New Hampshire

Having checked the Iowa box last week, Pawlenty puts the Granite State on his 2009 calendar. My colleague, ABC News' Teddy Davis, has the story: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) is heading to New Hampshire next month to raise money for Republican state senate candidates, the latest sign that he is laying the groundwork for a 2012 White House run. “Tim Pawlenty was really tops on their list to be the first person this cycle to raise money for them because he is a new, fresh face, he just started a political committee, and he has been traveling around to different states,” said Mike Dennehy, a former McCain adviser who is now a political consultant to New Hampshire state Senate Republicans. Pawlenty’s first trip to the Granite State as a potential presidential candidate will take place in Concord, N.H., on Dec. 16. He has agreed to headline a $50 per person fundraiser for the Republican Senate Majority Committee, a group which raises money for GOP state senate candidates. Pawlenty, who is not seeking reelection in 2010, has come under increased press scrutiny in recent days. Dan Balz, the veteran political reporter for the Washington Post, penned a column earlier today comparing the Minnesota governor’s moves in recent months to the way in which former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) “lurched to the right” in preparation for his 2008 presidential bid. “[T]here is something Romneyesque in all this,” wrote Balz. A Pawlenty advisor responded to the criticism from Balz by saying: “As the governor told Dan, he is a conservative. He ran as a conservative. It should surprise nobody that he is continuing to act like a conservative.” “The three incidents that Dan picked out, the governor addressed in the story,” the Pawlenty adviser continued. “On the school one, he was repeating what a nonpartisan group of Minnesota educators had said. In the case of Olympia Snowe, he was quick to concede that that was an inartful thing to say and he called her up and made sure that she understood that as far as he is concerned, she is welcome in the party. On NY-23, the governor and his team think that (endorsing Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, over Dede Scozzafava, the Republican Party candidate) was the right thing to do given the way that (Scozzafava) was picked by a small group of people and how much she disagreed with the (Republican) Party on core issues like taxes and spending.” As for Politifact.com’s contention that Pawlenty has changed course on climate change legislation, another item raised by Balz, Pawlenty’s adviser referred to a recent interview with Human Events, a conservative publication, in which the governor addressed his stance on cap-and-trade legislation. “Look, where it makes sense to cut pollution, it makes sense to do that, but not at the expense of wrecking the economy,” said the Pawlenty adviser. “He came out against the cap-and-trade bill in the House and Senate.” The decision to accept an invitation to speak in New Hampshire, the state which holds the first presidential primary, comes on the heels of Pawlenty’s Nov. 8th appearance at a Republican Party dinner in Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Pawlenty’s 2009 travel has not been confined to states which hold early nominating contests. He has also traveled to several other states in recent months including Ohio, Michigan, South Dakota, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, and California. In addition to his trip to New Hampshire, Pawlenty also has upcoming trips to Texas for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, and Florida, to speak to the non-partisan Forum Club of Southwest Florida. Pawlenty has his work cut out for him in New Hampshire. Dennehy, the Republican strategist who advised McCain’s 2000 and 2008 wins in New Hampshire and is unaffiliated in 2012, said that Romney is a big favorite to win the state’s primary next time. “Gov. Romney is clearly the frontrunner in New Hampshire,” Dennehy told ABC News. “Gov. Romney has run once before. He has a very solid ground team in New Hampshire. He knows how to run. He knows what the voters want.”