WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced his 2012 bid to challenge President Barack Obama for the White House in a slick online video ahead of his first official campaign event in Iowa Monday.
"The truth is, our country's in big trouble. We have far too much debt. Too much government spending and too few jobs," Pawlenty says in the two-minute long video released late Sunday.
"We need a president who understands that our problems are deep, and who has the courage to face them," he says. "President Obama doesn't. I do."
"I'm Tim Pawlenty, and I'm running for president of the United States," the former governor says ahead of his official announcement at a town hall meeting later Monday in Iowa, the first in the United States presidential caucus state.
Pawlenty is to be introduced at his formal campaign kickoff at the State of Iowa Historical Building by his wife Mary, a former state judge.
The former governor enters a thinning field of prospective contenders which lacks a clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination after three high-profile candidates -- former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, real estate mogul Donald Trump, and Indiana governor Mitch Daniels -- dropped out in little more than a week.
Pawlenty made his intentions to run clear weeks ago, in March releasing a polished YouTube video announcing the formation of an exploratory committee.
And for more than a year he has been traveling to key early presidential nomination states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
Following his first official campaign event, Pawlenty plans to participate in a Facebook town hall meeting on Tuesday in Florida, which is angling to be among the first crop of nominating states.
He was due to speak in Washington Wednesday at the libertarian Cato Institute.
An evangelical Christian, Pawlenty was born to a Polish American and his German American mother in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was trained as a labor lawyer before being elected governor. He and his wife have two daughters.
The low-key Pawlenty -- derided by detractors as bland and uncharismatic -- is little known outside of his home state. He hopes to position himself as a fiscal conservative who will shake up Washington.
All told, the Republican field encompasses about a dozen hopefuls who have declared their intentions or are preparing to, among them Minnesota representative Michele Bachmann; former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum; Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels; former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman; and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich was the first major Republican candidate to formally throw his hat into the ring earlier this month, less than two weeks ahead of Pawlenty.
Also recently announcing a long-shot White House bid was US lawmaker Ron Paul, a libertarian with a small but spirited Republican following.
There has been talk of a possible late election season entry into the White House contest, because the Republican electorate is said to be disenchanted with the field of contenders so far.
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