Pawlenty exits GOP run; leaves Romney, Perry, Bachmann to duke it out

Portsmouth, N.H.— As Tim Pawlenty exited the presidential race, his former rivals sought to position themselves in the rapidly shifting Republican field.


Fresh off her win in the Iowa Straw Poll, Michele Bachmann appeared on five Sunday shows seeking to boost her exposure beyond the Hawkeye State. In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Bachmann insisted that she could broaden appeal goes beyond conservative and "tea party" voters to Democrats and Independents.


Reprising a line that Pawlenty had often used on the campaign trail, Bachmann noted that she is from Minnesota: "It’s not a conservative state; it’s more of a liberal state—"


"But a conservative district," Crowley interrupted.


"It’s a swing district and it's a district that elected Gov. Jesse Ventura, and so I’ve been able to attract a lot of people to vote for me who are Democrats and independents," Bachmann said. "That’s what we have to do. This won’t be just a conservative election, this is really going to be an economics election. People will want to know who can turn the country around that will be the big question.”


Contrasting her record with Perry’s, Bachmann argued that she is "a proven, effective advocate in Washington DC against the issues people really care about.


There may be a longer-than-usual slog toward a winner than Republicans are used to. Perry enters the race as a top-tier candidate, second in national polls of GOP voters only to Mr. Romney. Bachmann was already placing third in polls, even before her victory in the Iowa straw poll Saturday, and has now solidified her status as a major contender.


Each of the three has planted a flag in different early-contest states: Bachmann in Iowa, Romney in New Hampshire, and Perry in South Carolina, where he announced his candidacy. Of the three, it’s easiest to see Romney holding onto his first-place perch in New Hampshire, which he has been cultivating for years, and where his low-key approach on social issues fits the Northeastern sensibility.


Bachmann begins the race to win the first nominating contest – the Iowa caucuses in early 2012 – as the favorite. She leaned heavily on her Iowa roots in her straw poll speech, with a nary a hint that she has lived in Minnesota most of her life. More important, her evangelical Christian faith and tea party activism make her a good fit for Iowa Republicans, where the party is dominated by social conservatives who have embraced the tea party’s low-tax, small-government message.


But Perry has the potential to knock Bachmann off her Iowa perch. He, too, speaks freely of his evangelical Christian beliefs, is popular with some tea partyers, but also has close ties to the national GOP establishment, which Bachmann does not have. He can also trump her on experience: He has been governor of Texas for more than 10 years and has presided over strong job creation. Since entering politics, Bachmann has only been a legislator and, as Pawlenty charged in the GOP debate last Thursday, has a thin record of accomplishment.


“She’s an excellent cheerleader,” says Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines. “Her task is to convince Republicans that she can be a quarterback.