WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s campaign considers only one Minnesota presidential candidate a serious threat to his reelection.

That’s according to an article in The Hill, which said Obama’s team is tracking the campaigns of former-governors-turned-presidential-candidates Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty.

“The shortlist of three GOP contenders includes their schedules as well as those of the president, vice president, first lady and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee,” according to The Hill. “Nowhere to be seen are the schedules of Sarah Palin, Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), former Speaker Newt Gingrich and pizza magnate Herman Cain.”

Early polls show Romney is the only Republican who performs well against Obama among registered voters. The former Massachusetts governor is virtually tied with Obama in a Washington Post-ABC poll released last week. Obama leads Pawlenty by 9 percent and Bachmann by 11 percent, the poll showed.

Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.