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MinnPOTUS

Pawlenty highlights his support among Minnesota Republicans

By Devin Henry | 06/29/11

WASHINGTON — Seemingly seeking to highlight his high levels of support among Minnesotans who now have two hometown presidential candidates to choose from, the Tim Palwenty campaign today released a list of more than 100 high profile “Minnesota conservatives” who have endorsed his candidacy.

Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Congresswoman, announced her presidential run on June 13 and has since seen her support swell in public opinion polls. Support for Pawlenty, though he has been campaigning significantly longer than Bachmann, has remained stagnant. Releasing a list of in-state supporters could be meant to show the edge he has over his fellow Minnesotan among those who know them both best.

Polls within Minnesota show Pawlenty with higher favorability ratings than Bachmann among likely voters and performing better against President Barack Obama in a head-to-head match-up.

“For the last eight years, I did more than just talk about moving Minnesota in a conservative direction — I actually did it,” Pawlenty said in a statement. “I’m humbled by this strong showing of support from so many conservative leaders from around Minnesota. Their support is a real validation of our record of delivering conservative results.”

The list includes more than a dozen state lawmakers — including Kurt Zellers, the Speaker of the Minnesota House — state party chairs for a handful of Congressional districts (though not Bachmann's 6th District) and former and current presidents and CEOs of major Minnesota companies like Cargill, Medtronic, General Mills and Target.

The list appears to be strictly focused on supporters who have stayed in-state, since it’s missing several high profile Minnesotans who have endorsed Pawlenty but made their name on the national scene. Missing from the list are Ron Carey, the former Bachmann chief of staff who published an op-ed in the Des Moines Register critical of her candidacy, and Congressmen John Kline and Erik Paulsen, among others.

The full list can be found here.

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

Comments (1)

Submitted by Tom Christensen on June 29, 2011 - 2:23pm.

3,000,000 people in Minnesota and he has already captured 100. Now you know who he is working for. That leaves 2,999,990 that he isn't working for. Pawlenty is nothing but a hypocritical fraud.