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Politics & Government

PAWLENTY WATCH: Straw Poll in Ames on Saturday Has a Tinge of "Do-or-Die"

Patch's regular column keeps tabs on presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty.

What are those I see growing on our boy Tim... could they be teeth?

In their Thursday debate, televised on Fox, Pawlenty gave as good as he got with fellow Minnesota candidate Michele Bachmann. Pawlenty still won’t be mistaken for a street fighter, but he zeroed in on Bachmann’s feeble record in introducing and passing legislation. Pawlenty didn’t stop once the debate did, using Sean Hannity’s Fox show to say pointedly, “You can’t just be someone who gives speeches.”

Despite his best efforts, though, Pawlenty got mixed reviews in his debate performance. Reuters, for instance, tagged his Thursday attacks as too little, too late.

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More bad news: A top Republican fund-raiser from New Hampshire is putting his support behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry after all but promising to back Pawlenty. “We were looking very carefully at Tim Pawlenty, and we loved him,” Gregory Slayton said, “but Rick Perry comes with so much experience.” Ouch.

Pawlenty seems to realize that Saturday’s straw poll in Ames has a tinge of do-or-die to it. At a breakfast Friday sponsored by Politico, he acknowledged that he “may not have any choice” but to sharply cut his campaign staff if he loses. “If we do really bad, we’ll have to reassess,” he said. “Would we have to retrench in some fashion? Probably, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

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Regardless of how things turn out in Iowa, Pawlenty has New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary, next week. Although he hasn’t been to the Granite State in a couple of months, Pawlenty will will attend a Bedford, N.H., house party on Friday, Aug. 19, and then march in the Londonderry Old Home Day Parade and attend a Hamptead, N.H., GOP meet and greet on Saturday.

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