Pawlenty Drops Out of Race

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is dropping out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Pawlenty told supporters on a conference call this morning that he would announce on ABC's This Week that he was ending his campaign after a disappointing finish in the Iowa straw poll yesterday. "We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward and that didn't happen, so I'm announcing on your show that I'm ending my campaign for president," Pawlenty said.

"I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't really exist, so we're going to end the campaign," he continued. Pawlenty had struggled to gain traction in Iowa, a state he had said he must win, after laying the groundwork for a campaign for nearly two years. He's been eclipsed in polls in recent months by his Minnesota rival, Rep. Michele Bachmann. She won the straw poll yesterday. (More Tim Pawlenty stories.)