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| Tim Pawlenty and wife Mary |
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination on Sunday, hours after finishing a disappointing third in the 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" from Iowa shortly after disclosing his plans in a private conference call with supporters.
The low-key Midwesterner and two-term governor had struggled to gain traction in a state he had said he must win and never caught fire nationally with a Republican electorate seemingly craving a charismatic, nonestablishment, rabble-rouser to go up against President Barack Obama.
In recent weeks, he withered under the rise of tea party favorite Michele Bachmann, whose rallying cry is a sure-fire applause line about making Obama a one-term president, and libertarian-leaning Ron Paul, as well as the promise of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the sharp-tongued Texan who entered the race Saturday.
"I thought I would have made a great president," Pawlenty said. "I do believe we're going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama."
He didn't immediately endorse a candidate.
Bachmann was quick to praise him, perhaps mindful of the need to broaden her appeal and reach his backers, who span the ideological spectrum.
"I wish him well," Bachmann said. "He brought a really important voice into the race and I am grateful that he was in. He was really a very good competitor."
In recent weeks, he withered under the rise of tea party favorite Michele Bachmann, whose rallying cry is a sure-fire applause line about making Obama a one-term president, and libertarian-leaning Ron Paul, as well as the promise of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the sharp-tongued Texan who entered the race Saturday.
"I thought I would have made a great president," Pawlenty said. "I do believe we're going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama."
He didn't immediately endorse a candidate.
Bachmann was quick to praise him, perhaps mindful of the need to broaden her appeal and reach his backers, who span the ideological spectrum.
"I wish him well," Bachmann said. "He brought a really important voice into the race and I am grateful that he was in. He was really a very good competitor."
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