Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
on Sunday bowed out of the race to become the 2012 GOP candidate for
president, a day after Texas Governor Rick Perry jumped in.
Pawlenty decided to exit after
finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa straw poll. Minnesota
Rep. Michele Bachmann won the most votes, followed by Texas Rep. Ron
Paul.
“I wish it would have been
different,” Pawlenty
said on ABC's This
Week.
Pawlenty said his message “didn't get
the kind of traction or lift that we needed and hoped for coming into
the and out of the Ames straw poll. We needed to get some lift to
continue on and to have a pathway forward. That didn't happen.”
In an effort to capture Iowa, Pawlenty
had moved to the right of his moderate Republican stance on social
issues.
Pawlenty was the first GOP contender to
vow to undo repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the policy ending
on September 20 that bans gays and bisexual troops from serving
openly.
“We have to pay great deference, I
think, to those combat units, their sentiments and their leaders,”
he said during an appearance in Iowa at The Family Leader's
Presidential Lecture Series. “That's one of the reasons why I said
we shouldn't have repealed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and I would
support reinstatement.”
He also attempted to boost his social
conservative credentials by touting his opposition to gay marriage
and the hand he played in advocating for a gay marriage ban in his
home state.
“When I was in the Minnesota
Legislature, I was a co-author of the Defense of Marriage Act
defining marriage as between a man and a woman,” Pawlenty recently
told the Miami Herald. “I support a state and federal
amendment to the constitutions defining amendments as such.”
Gay marriage, he told State of the
Union's Candy Crowley, “defies common sense” and is a “bad
idea.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Meanwhile, after announcing his
candidacy on Saturday in South Carolina – and perhaps stealing some
of the thunder of other candidates attempting to court Iowa voters –
Perry headed straight to first-in-the-nation primary state New
Hamsphire.
Perry says he's “fine” with states
deciding the issue, but supports a constitutional amendment banning
gay marriage.