WASHINGTON — Tim Pawlenty is fundraising off of a tweet.

First, some back story: On Sunday, Pawlenty coined the term “Obamneycare” to draw similarities between the Massachusetts health care program implemented under presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and Barack Obama’s federal health care reform law that has been much maligned by Republicans.

But during the CNN Republican presidential debate a day later, he dialed back, offering only a tepid explanation that the term was born from the fact that Obama has said he used the Massachusetts plan as a model for federal reform.

Pundits criticized it as a missed opportunity for Pawlenty to attack the party’s presidential frontrunner. So on Thursday, he tweeted: “On seizing debate opportunity re: healthcare: Me 0, Mitt 1. On doing healthcare reform the right way as governor: Me 1, Mitt 0.”

This morning, he sent an email to supporters, leading with the tweet and ending with an appeal for donations to his campaign. He also linked to a Thursday interview with Sean Hannity in which he continued to draw comparisons between the plans.

There are two points to be taken from this: First, Pawlenty appears to be back on the offensive, using the health care issue to contrast him and Romney. Secondly, it’s the first time the MinnPost D.C. Bureau has seen a presidential candidate use a tweet to launch a fundraising pitch.

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