The Caucus: Pawlenty Takes Step Toward 2012 Run

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, is set to declare Monday afternoon that he is opening a presidential exploratory committee, a step that formalizes a campaign for the Republican nomination that he has been pondering for more than a year.

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Mr. Pawlenty is scheduled to make the announcement at 3 p.m. Eastern on his Facebook page, according to two sources close to his campaign. He would become the first major Republican candidate to file papers with the Federal Election Commission, which allows him to raise money and hire staff members as he further explores a presidential bid.

He first disclosed his intentions in a morning conference call to contributors, whom he has been quietly courting for months in a series of events across the country that he calls ?friend-raisers.? Raising enough money for a presidential bid is one of his biggest challenges, considering several other likely Republican rivals have established donor networks.

For weeks, Mr. Pawlenty has said that he intends to make his decision before the end of March. The development offers another sign that the fight for the party?s 2012 presidential nomination is well underway, with at least a half-dozen other Republicans also seriously considering entering the race.

Mr. Pawlenty, 50, has been a fixture at Republican events in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire for more than a year. He is largely unknown nationally, but has sought to win over party activists, hoping that his candidacy takes off with strong showings in the early contests next year.

His aides and admirers affectionately call him T-Paw. His political action committee produced a video for the Tea Party rallies ? a constituency he is trying to appeal to ? branded with the name ?Tea-Paw.? But lately, some Republican rivals have also started embracing the name, referring to him sarcastically as ?T-Paws,? likening it to the name of a puppy.

But their mocking confirms their private concern that Mr. Pawlenty will be taken seriously in the fight for the Republican nomination.

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