Pawlenty Drops Out Of Race For White House

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty quit his bid for the White House early Sunday morning after finishing a distant third in the Iowa Straw Poll. 

University of Minnesota Associate Professor of Political Science Kathyn Pearson says Pawlenty bet heavily on a good showing in Iowa, "Given how much Pawlenty invested in terms of resources, staff, organization, and just the expectation he set for doing well in Iowa, this really was make or break for him. He's been losing momentum."

Pearson says Pawlenty needed Iowa to reinvigorate his campaign, "He really needed a boost in Iowa, and coming in a distant third just didn't give him the needed boost to continue on. He didn't want to keep limping along."

Brian McClung was Tim Pawlenty's spokesperson and Deputy Chief of Staff when Pawlenty was Governor. He says Pawlenty had a good message to sell in Iowa, but the voters seemed to be craving something different, "Tim Pawlenty was in this race because he felt he had something to offer the country, that he had the experience, results and background to try to fix the United States of America. He really believed in that. " That's not how it turned out, according to McClung, "The electorate was saying, 'Well, that's nice, but what we really want right now is someone who's going to pound the podium and go after Obama."

McClung says there are many factors in a race, "Politics is timing. and when the right person is there, and they reflect the mood of the electorate, that's when they get elected president. In this case, what Tim Pawlenty brought to the table isn't what voters in Iowa were looking for."

While McClung's old boss has quit the race, McClung doesn't believe Pawlenty has quit the fight, "I'm pretty sure we have not seen the last of Tim Pawlenty."