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Tim Pawlenty yesterday became the first bona fide potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. Lesser-known businessman Herman Cain and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer (R) have also already formed committees.
The former Minnesota governor’s announcement came in the form of a Facebook message. In the only media appearance he made after his announcement, Pawlenty told Fox News the decision to announce his committee on Facebook came from a desire to be on the “cutting edge” and called the social networking site “the wave of the future.” In making the announcement on Facebook, he became the first candidate in history to do so. He also said the site would be a helpful tool “to grow the conservative movement and reach out to new voters.”
But did it work? The video is certainly cutting edge. Pawlenty narrates while music swells in the background and fast-paced video flashes on the screen. The spot looks more like a movie trailer than the usual political ad. As for gaining supporters, he is only up about 5,000 “likes” on his Facebook page. Yesterday, before the announcement Tim Pawlenty had around 74,000 people who “like” him on Facebook. Today, he’s up to a little over 79,000. And consider that the only way to view the message on Facebook was to “like” the page. So that 5,000 will inevitably include members of the media, who clicked just to view the video.
Compare that with Sarah Palin’s roughly 2.8 million Facebook followers. (Not that Facebook followers equates to political strength as much as celebrity status.)
In a telephone town hall yesterday, Pawlenty didn’t seem worried. When answering from a supporter on the call about poll numbers and name recognition Pawlenty was unfazed. “If you're a serious candidate for president of the United States and get any reasonable amount of traction,” he said, “then you're name I.D. will be 100 percent by the time the process enters the serious stage.”
Plus, there are still 10 months before the scheduled Iowa and New Hampshire contests. And both are states in which retail politics is key. In other words, neither contest is contingent upon national name ID. Candidates, like Rudy Giuliani, for example, in 2007, who led national polls certainly found those polls didn’t matter.
Talking campaign strategy, Pawlenty said his goal is to unify the conservative movement. “If you think about the conservative coalition and the party more broadly,” he said, “there's overlap between these groups, but as it relates to economic conservatives, social conservatives, libertarian, tea party conservatives, national defense conservatives, I think I'm going to be unique in the field to be able to deeply and genuinely appeal across that whole spectrum.”
Looking forward, Pawlenty said on FOX to expect key staff announcements to come over the next couple days. His big announcement of an official campaign will follow shortly thereafter. The latest guidance NBC has received is sometime this spring, probably in May.
“We’re not going to draw this out for a long period of time,” Pawlenty said. “That formal announcement or fuller announcement will come relatively soon.”
Leave a Comment:
"Compare that with Sarah Palin’s roughly 2.8 million Facebook followers. (Not that Facebook followers equates to political strength as much as celebrity status.)"
That was a scary moment.
MSNBC almost said something complimentary about Governor Palin...but remembered just in time to add the snark about 'celebrity'.
Sarah gave up the right to be called "Governor Palin" when she gave up on the job...
Sarah WHO??
never heard of the guy ... to be a player in todays tea party you got to be extreme ... it wont hurt him if hes got plenty (money that is not brains)
Yes Bob,
That was close. MSNBC is very slanted in their articles. We all know that. They can't quite cover it up though.
Pawlennty seems to be a new breath of fresh air. He holds many of our conservative values dear, and is a REAL leader who will make a REAL President. Beating Obama is not a problem. Obama digs his political hole deeper every week. I can't believe his latest show of stupidity and arrogance.....making war on Libya without even consulting congress. What a nut job. Even George W. Bush had the bi-partisan decency to ask congress to vote on going to war in Iraq. And that was just after 9/11, when the country was up in arms. The clown we have now doesn't think this is necessary. Seems to think our Congress is just there for window dressing or something. What an arrogant clown.
How many of these Republican candidates are there going to be and do I really have to devote a brain cell to each and every one of them?
Liberals like Amy dont have many brain cells to spare.
Don't worry, Bob. As you probably can't count past 10, it doesn't really matter.
I just counted the number of fact-deprived moonbat leftist platitudes you spewed out just today, and you know, it was over 10.
Amy, during the 2008 race, a number of Dems entered at various times, with the current leader of the Democratics entering late. I believe you will see people enter, leave and consider. After all, it is a long time until Iowa, with evern more time until the Presidential elections.
And I'll bet you will see more Democrats announce their intent to run for the Dem nomination, especially as the country turns against ObaMA even more.
Amy B
Do you remember people that posted here with names like. Desmond, Still crazy after all these years, Olivia Peroria ILL and Ryan from Michigian? Seems like back then there was less attack posting and more discussion.
So in other words, we're now choosing Presidents based on how many FaceBook fans they have?
Lord HELP us!
well, I knew I was opening myself up to an insult with the brain cell thing, but honestly, I can't be bothered to read every tweet from every twit: Trump, Palin, Santorum, Pawlenty, Huntsman, Huckabee, Barbour, Gingrich, and Romney and those are just the "serious" candidates so far!
"Seems like back then there was less attack posting and more discussion."
I've tried to do my bit by backing off the knee jerk rebuttals. Doesn't contribute to the tone of the blog to get into pizzing matches. I'm trying.
"Pawlenty told Fox News the decision to announce his committee on Facebook came from a desire to be on the “cutting edge” and called the social networking site “the wave of the future.”
Geez, does this guy get out much? Did he just now get around to seeing the movie? In an age where last week's newest gadget is already obsolete, anything that's been around as long as Facebook practically qualifies as a dinosaur.
And Feisty, if we ARE going to do away with all those primaries, caucuses, conventions, and that pesky Electoral College thing and just go with friends and fans, I guarantee President Obama wins in a landslide!
In 2007, the democratic and republican candidates had already done their "exploratory committee" by January, 2007; some announced at various time but pretty much by March, we knew who the candidates were. The GOP seems reluctant to get into the race for whatever reason. I don't have a problem with the later start but as gung-ho as republicans have been for 2012 since Jan 20, 2009, it seems they should have explored enough already.
I like Betty White's view of twitter--seems like a big waste of time. It has its value but I'm not sure what the value really is in 140 characters or less.
Salt Grass. I'm not Amy and I don't remember those particular names but I do remember when there were some good, partisan but civil debates on FR. Although they'd never admit it, conservatives were glad to see Bush 43's term end and they had hopes. Then Nov 4, 2008, happened and all bets were off.
Amy B
Do you remember people that posted here with names like. Desmond, Still crazy after all these years, Olivia Peroria ILL and Ryan from Michigian?
I see you responed to one comment, but that was no directed at you.
Jody, I was just wondering because back then we had good posters and then one day some one call Jerry from Corpus Christi came along and the name calling has been going on ever since. I have been here a long time and I know Amy B has been around as long and I was just curious if I am the only one that remembered those days. If you check the archives going back to 2006 it was rare that you have over a hundred comments on one topic. People on both sides had good points back then.
AKA
TEC-Spring TX
Salt Grass -
I've been reading long enough to remember Jerry from Corpus Christi too! Actually, I posted something a couple of weeks ago after taking a nostagic trip through the Archives myself and when I mentioned that there were actually only 43 (!) comments the day after the 2008 election with the headline "Obama Wins", Mark Murray was kind enough to explain the difference thus:
"Before the new format, we had to manually approve every comment, and for that reason we'd usually cut off the number of comments per post b/w 50-100. But with the new format, the number of comments is now unlimited. Second, the dialogue typically devolves when MSNBC.com or MSN places the post on its main page -- which drives more traffic."
Oh, hello,
TEC-Spring TX! So now you are Salt Grass, or Salty as I sometimes call you!
Yup, I remember old Jerry, in fact I think (s)he migrated from ABC's The Note, after thoroughly polluting that blog. There was a very smart liberal named Silky who they all ganged up on all the time, over there. Silky, if you are reading this, I miss you!
I came over to First Read because the posters and the journalists were more intelligent and unbiased. It has gotten bad here sometimes, but at least you can collapse the worst ones, (I rarely do), and, as I said, I am trying to refrain from getting into shouting matches with other commenters. I just try to say my piece and read what others think, if it seems reasonable. I'll have to go through the archives sometime to remind myself "the way it was."
Some topics had much less than 50 comments and it makes sense that if the story is posted as a head line there would be more traffic. They also use to edit out comments, so not all were posted.
Yes TEC is now salt. There was already some one else using TEC when this site went to the news vine format, so I had to find a new ID. I didnot like TEC-123456789. I am not sure when I see a bob 29758913 if it is the same bob that posted as bob 123456789
This reminds me that I got a Facebook message from Glenn Beck today saying that he had evidence that the SEIU was behind the collapse of the financial markets.
LoLoL If that's true, then why didn't all the janitors get rich, while the Wall Street bankers did?
Facebook is such a WONDERFUL thing.
One thing I'll give Beck, he's got a wild imagination stimulated by paranoid, delusional thoughts.
...And, he makes those cute-sy faces all the time.
And he thinks he's Jimmy Swaggart.
James Baker "Jimmy" ala Tammy Faye's ex,...
that is who the Beckster reminds me of.
There goes the neighbor hood.
“the wave of the future.” or over hyped and no longer in Vogue. After Goldman makes a few billion facebook will be like AOL.
"Compare that with Sarah Palin’s roughly 2.8 million Facebook followers. (Not that Facebook followers equates to political strength as much as celebrity status.)"
If Governor Palin does not run for President, MSNBC will, all of a sudden, back off from the endless insults, and shower her with compliments--in the context of bashing the Republican Presdiential candidates.
Sarah Palin for President = Second term for Obama
I'm not a fan of him but I would NEVER vote for her...
I've been trying to be good, but I can't hold it in any longer. Whatever happened to that "criticism of the President stops at the water's edge" thing-y? Every headline I saw as we started military action with Libya was accompanied by a subheadline of Palin criticizing the President in front of a foreign crowd. Dixie Chicks must be fuming, the conservatives burned their records for saying they thought President Bush was wrong while on tour in the UK. And they were musicians, not potential candidates for office!
Amy- I think you have to actually BE somebody for that rule to have any 'oomph'.
Actually, I'd wager that MSNBC and all us dems would prefer that Sarah runs.
drive-by-observer
Oh snap, I guess you can say the Dixie Chicks are more influencial in the world of serious thinkers than the reality star from the Great North.
Maybe it will be Michelle Bachmann... I saw her on two different interviews (PBS & Fox) within a couple of days and both times she was holding up a sign with some number and a bunch of zeros on it to make her point about govt. spending.
I'm all for cutting the budget, and the deficit, but anyone using flashcards to make a political argument is either operating at a 4th grade mental capacity or thinks that their audience is... Judy Woodruff looked like she wanted to reach through the screen and shake Bachmann to death every time she held up her stupid little sign but Fox News acted like it was normal.
bjones -
Make that at least three different interviews - she brought it to Meet The Press a couple of weeks ago too, and I think it was her sole answer to all 10 questions David Gregory tried to ask her, whether they had to do with the budget or not. I have to admit having a Judy Woodruff reaction of my own, but it was more directed at Gregory for allowing her to keep avoiding the questions.
Pawlenty is delusional to think unifying the economic conservatives, social conservatives, libertarian, tea party conservatives, national defense conservatives is going to play big for him.
A solid majority of Americans still support President Obama. A new Pew Research Poll shows where the Tea Party is plunging.
BTW: What has Silly Sarah done lately besides insulting the people in India and Israel, as well as Americans? Sarah being a Christian and yet she skipped Bethlehem; the birthplace of baby Jesus. Hummm, could it have something to do with the Palestinians? Or could it be she was too dumb to know it?
That last thing you said.
Clever, you have to "like" the page in order to view the announcement--that way the odds are in the anouncee's favor that he/she will be "liked". Pawlenty wants to unite the republican party. Now just how does one go about doing that if the explorer moves so far to the right to attract the TPers, it's impossible to sell themselves to the republican middle and independents, not to mention any thought about democrats.
Pawlenty, another GOPTP candidate who decided to dip his toes into the exploratory committee version of declaring he wants to be president. I would have thought the "exploratory" should have been done by now and they're either in or out. What Pawlenty, Gingrich, Barbour, Trump, Palin and the others are quietly saying with their late-starting "exploring" is can he/she beat President Obama.
Jody -
I have to admit I'm losing track. Is this the announcement that an announcement is coming to announce the press conference to announce the Facebook site to explore the possibility of announcing an actual candidacy? Or is it the announcement that he'll soon announce that he's decided to explore the possibility of making an announcement that he's planning a press conference to announce that he's considering making another announcement tomorrow?
Actually I think your last line says it all. If these guys keep stalling at the rate they are, it'll get to be November 7, 2012 and we'll be busy celebrating President Obama winning a second term unopposed.
A solid majority of Americans still support President Obama. A new Pew Research Poll shows where the Tea Party is plunging.
Really? Yes unions support him , just about all government employees ( excluding the military) support him. But 46% is by no means a majority.The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 28% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12 Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove of his performance.
dont worry, the professional left underestimated us in november, and will again. its all denial of Tea Party gains in the house, governorships, and state legislatures. those are never talked about, but are fact.
we will restore the Republic.
@mitchj: "we will restore the Republic." TO WHAT... No TeaPublican has EVER been able to answer that, coherantly.
You want to take away America, but you don't say who your giving it to.
Go Away, please, you make me sick.
its very simple:
1.Pawlenty is of Polish desent.
2.Poland has kicked muslum @ss for centuries.
3.Barack Hussein Obama
Run Sarah, Run. I can't wait to see you in the debates with the rest from your party.
who exactly does Pawlenty think "we" need to take "our" country back from? that doesn't make any sense....
Take this country back from socialist libbies. A real no-brainer Echo.
and who are they exactly? is there a list?
Did Sarah's fake facebook personna friend Paw Paw?
First order of business after President Pawlenty's victory speech will be to name Ms Palin as head of homeland security.
Pawlenty is boring, boring, boring...no sex appeal, no brains and no imagination. That makes him a perfect republican candidate. Go Paw Paw go!
@Rev. Granny,
Prior to being critical of another candidate, especially a conservative when you are probably a liberal, perhaps you should also assess the qualifications of the current President.
When you have an empty suit in a leadership position, is that suit a positive event for this country? And since when does Obama have a personality without someone writing his speeches for him? During one-on-one interviews, we often hear more ah's, um's and hm's with a total lack of answering a question. Obama does talk, but does he actually address the issue?
But in either instance, the personality of the individual is not the main issue for consideration, it is the record the person has established during his career, whether the career has been in the private sector, or the public sector. Leadership and positive action is the key to electing an individual to the highest office in this country.
Pawlenty shows more leadership in his period as Governor than the other guy who has a number of "present" votes on issues relating to the running of the Federal Government.
Do you live in MN? I do. Talk about empty suits, ...that guy has so little personality no one remembers who he is except those of us who had to put up with his poor judgement and poor choices. And we are glad he is gone. It will take a while to clean up the messes he left behind, but we will manage to fix our bridges, fill our pot holes and get our schools back in order.
As for Obama, I think he is GREAT. Who else could have dealt with the constant landslide of problems he has had to face since the last president and his gang left Washington? And how much help has he received from the "no on everything, do nothing constructive" Republicans?
We don't agree, Swampy...but I like your challenges.
“then you're name I.D. will be 100 percent by the time the process enters the serious stage.”
Doesn't anyone proof-read anymore? The word should be "your" not "you're." Lead by example, for goodness sakes.
I don't know much yet about Pawlenty, but I will give him credit for admitting, up front, that he's a social conservative instead of obfuscating his social positions under the guise of 'fiscal responsibility'; a tactic that has become so en vogue recently.
what does "social conservative mean" these days? really curious