STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A ONE HORSE RACE:

Pawlenty preps 2012 campaign team (JONATHAN MARTIN, 10/1/09, Politico)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been quietly assembling the blueprint of a presidential campaign and will announce Thursday the support of a group of high-level political strategists and donors, complemented by a handful of top new media consultants, POLITICO has learned.

Pawlenty, under the radar of D.C.’s political community, has locked up some of the key operatives who engineered then-President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign — a significant feat for a little-known Midwestern politician.

Not that there was any reason that Mitt Romney would do better this time, but with all the energy of the Republican Party devoted to preventing President Obama from putting in place a national version of the Romney Health Plan, he's a non-starter.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 1, 2009 4:01 PM