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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty pressed toward a White House campaign Monday by formally announcing an exploratory committee with a call for backers to help him “take back our government.”

The Associated Press – FILE – In this March 7, 2011 file photo, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty speaks in Waukee, Iowa. Pawlenty, struggling for name recognition against better-known Republicans eying the presidency, told supporters on Monday that he will take the first formal step toward seeking the nomination, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

“At a young age, I saw up close the face of challenge, the face of hardship and the face of job loss,” the Republican said in a two-minute video message designed to appeal to tea party activists and GOP rank and file facing economic insecurity.

“Over the last year I’ve traveled to nearly every state in the country and I know many Americans are feeling that way today. I know that feeling. I lived it. But there is a brighter future for America.”

The optimistic note harkened to another upbeat politician: President Barack Obama, who ran on the message of hope and change in 2008.

Pawlenty’s announcement of the exploratory committee almost certainly will lead to a full-blown candidacy for the GOP nomination in a field that has been slow to form. The winner would face the daunting task of unseating an incumbent president.

“We, the people of the United States, will take back our government. This is our country. Our founding fathers created it,” Pawlenty said in the Hollywood-style video that featured a soaring soundtrack. It was posted on his Facebook page Monday afternoon.

“Americans embraced it. Ronald Reagan personified it. And Lincoln stood courageously to protect it. That’s why today, I’m announcing the formation of an exploratory committee to run for president of the United States. Join the team and together we’ll restore America.”

It was the first definitive statement from a potential 2012 candidate on his or her White House campaign and Pawlenty said the exploratory phase wouldn’t last long.

“We’re not going to draw this out for a long period of time and I think the formal announcement or fuller announcement will come relatively soon,” Pawlenty told Fox News Channel in a primetime interview. “It’s not going to be six months from now. It will be sooner than that.”

The Republican presidential field has been slow to form compared to past election cycles as familiar names such as Sarah Palin mull bids and other potential hopefuls like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich work behind the scenes on their candidacies. The harsh media spotlight and the expense of a full-scale campaign operation deterred Republicans from early announcements in the expected race against Obama, who is certain to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

“At this point, the clock is ticking. They’ve got less than a year,” said Mo Elleithee, a Democratic strategist who is a veteran of presidential primaries.

“The first votes are going to be cast in 10 months and it’s a lot of work to build an organization in Iowa and raise the money to start to develop your message. Ten months isn’t that much time.”

The first Republican presidential debate is just a few weeks away on May 2 in California.

Pawlenty, a conservative Republican who ran a Democratic-leaning state for two terms, has methodically moved toward a national campaign since announcing in 2009 that he wouldn’t seek a third term. Since then, he stepped up his travel to early contest states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, recruited Republican aides with presidential campaign experience, and courted GOP donors.

Pawlenty’s advisers are banking on a strong showing in Iowa to propel him through other critical primary states. He has made near monthly visits to Iowa since last summer and is due there the first two days of April. His next New Hampshire stop is scheduled for April 15, when he’ll take part in a tea party-sponsored tax day rally.

Pawlenty has made overtures to the fiscal conservatives and tea partyers whose top concerns are Washington spending and the national debt, as well as the social conservatives who oppose abortion and gay rights and hold sway in the leadoff Iowa caucuses. His efforts to appeal to a broad swath of the Republican Party signal that he’s trying to cast himself as a candidate who every party member can back.

In his Fox News Channel interview, Pawlenty sought to appeal to the segment of his party that places a premium on national security. He blasted Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi as a “confirmed terrorist who has the blood of our fellow citizens from America on his hands; in my view, he’s a psychopath.”

He said a no-fly zone, now in place, implemented earlier would have given rebels there a chance to overthrow Gadhafi. He said indecisive moves toward a no-fly zone led to a missed opportunity.

Pawlenty’s biggest hurdle to the nomination may be that he’s far less well-known nationally than other Republicans who are expected to run. A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted earlier this month found roughly six in 10 voters had no opinion of Pawlenty.

His limited national profile — despite being on GOP nominee John McCain’s short list for vice president in 2008 — may make it difficult to raise the millions of dollars needed to wage a credible campaign and build a strong operation.

All-but-declared candidates have started to assemble advisers and staff, yet aren’t rushing into the fray. Gingrich has announced he is weighing a run but hasn’t yet declared. Romney advisers say not to expect his announcement this month. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he will wait until his state legislature completes its work in April.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s term as the United States’ ambassador to China ends at the end of April and his supporters are planning a May announcement.

Others, such as former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, are calling activists in the early nominating states but have not yet made a public declaration.

Pawlenty, 50, was raised in a Minnesota meatpacking town, the son of a truck-driving father and a mother who died of cancer when he was a teen. He worked in a grocery to pay his way through college.

He began his political career on a suburban planning commission and the Eagan city council. He spent 10 years in the Minnesota House, serving as majority leader before becoming governor in 2002.

Pawlenty styled himself as a no-new-taxes governor, swatting down bill after bill that boosted state taxes. He didn’t take as hard a line on fees, and he consented to a 75-cent-per-pack “health impact fee” on cigarettes to end a partial government shutdown one year.

He signed legislation further restricting abortions and making concealed weapons permits more widely available, but social issues were hardly a centerpiece of his tenure. Pawlenty has added emphasis to his record on such issues as he moved toward a presidential run. His autobiography, released in January, was heavy on Bible references and traced his shift from Catholicism to evangelicalism.

Pawlenty still fits in the occasional pickup hockey game, as he did in New Hampshire recently while wearing a “T-Paw 12” jersey. He has a couple of marathon finishes, training alongside his wife, Mary. The couple has two teenage daughters.

___

Elliott reported from Washington.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty plunged into the contest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination Monday with a Facebook announcement in which he championed limited government and declared, “We the people of the United States will take back our government.”

Pawlenty, 50, stopped a step short of a formal declaration, which is likely to come later in the spring. But his decision to establish a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission gives him the legal mechanisms to begin active fundraising and to build his campaign operation.

The long-anticipated announcement by Pawlenty signaled the acceleration of what has been a slow-starting race for the GOP nomination, with other prospective candidates expected to announce their intentions in the coming weeks.

Those likely candidates include former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, seen as a fragile frontrunner in the GOP sweepstakes; Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who has been locking up talent and traveling to key states; and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has done everything to show he plans to run except form a presidential committee.

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the Republican race, considered to be as wide open as any in recent years. Among those still waiting to be heard from are former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008; former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin; Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels; and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

Pawlenty’s announcement came in a two-minute video replete with flags waving and a rich soundtrack. He spoke of his roots in a blue-collar suburb of the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to try to show that he understands the pain many families are still feeling as the economy slowly recovers from the collapse that began in late 2008.

His message was also aimed at tea party conservatives, one of the most energetic segments of the Republican Party. “This country was founded on freedom,” he said. “We the people of the United States will take back our government. This is our country. Our founding fathers created it. Americans embraced it. Ronald Reagan personified it, and Lincoln stood courageously to protect it. Together we’ll restore America.”

Pawlenty is little known nationally and registers in single digits in national polls testing the field of possible candidates. According to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, nearly six in 10 Republicans said they didn’t know enough about him to offer an opinion.

But the former governor carries less obvious baggage than some of his better-known opponents. Aides said Monday that he will seek to portray himself as a bridge betweenthe fiscal and social conservatives within the party. And, aides said, Pawlenty has shown that his ability to appeal to independents would make him the strongest potential candidate against President Obama in the general election.

Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist who is neutral in the GOP nomination battle, said Pawlenty’s attributes include an optimistic message that contrasts with the note of austerity coming from some congressional Republicans. “He has tapped a chord that is missing for Republicans in general,” Castellanos said.

But he added that it’s unclear whether Pawlenty can generate enough enthusiasm to win the nomination. “A lot of Republicans are concerned that he’s wet wood and won’t light. Is he as charismatic as his message?” Castellanos said.

Aides said Pawlenty intends to highlight his conservative record in a state best known for liberal politics. That record, they said, includes cutting state spending and taxes, vetoing tax hike measures, taking on public employee unions and instituting pension reforms for some public employees and health-care initiatives that contrast with Obama’s health-care law.

A spokeswoman for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor-Party immediately attacked Pawlenty after the announcement. In a statement, Kristin Sosanie accused Pawlenty of leaving behind the largest deficit in the state’s history, higher property taxes and “draconian” cuts in education. “The last thing he deserves is a chance to do it to our nation,” she said.

Pawlenty will begin his campaign strategy by turning to neighboring Iowa. A victory in those caucuses early next year could be a springboard to boost his profile. And it could provide the momentum to compete effectively in New Hampshire, where Romney is the clear favorite, and elsewhere. A poor finish in Iowa, however, could cripple his candidacy.

Pawlenty aides said that in using Facebook to make the announcement, the former governor showed that he’ll make the maximum possible use of new technology and social networking in his campaign.

Four years ago, a number of candidates announced their intentions to run for office by posting videos on their campaign committee Web sites. Obama’s campaign went on to exploit technology more effectively than anyone had done previously. Pawlenty’s use of Facebook shows the rapidly evolving role of social networking in all facets of politics and likely will become standard in all 2012 campaigns.

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Can Tim Pawlenty win?

Mr. Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, has become the first of the big-time Republican contenders to officially jump into the 2012 presidential campaign with an announcement on Facebook on Monday. The move to form an exploratory committee is almost a technicality for Mr. Pawlenty, who has been a candidate in almost every way for months.

But now that the Federal Election Commission considers him one, it will force a new discipline on his Minnesota-based campaign staff members, who have been steadily building a campaign since he left the governor’s mansion in January.

And the media will treat him differently, too. The profiles will be tougher. The questions will be more pointed. And the expectations among activists in Iowa and New Hampshire, the sites of the earliest presidential contests next year, will grow as they put Mr. Pawlenty through the political gantlet.

So what are the five biggest challenges for Mr. Pawlenty as he pursues the right to run against President Obama in 2012? The following is the consensus that emerged from discussions with Republican political consultants, many of whom declined to speak on the record because they advise — or hope to advise — one of Mr. Pawlenty’s rivals.

1. Money. The biggest challenge for Mr. Pawlenty will be raising the millions of dollars needed to demonstrate that he belongs in the top tier of candidates competing for the presidency. A man of modest means, Mr. Pawlenty comes from a state of modest means, without a financial center like New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles.

By announcing early, Mr. Pawlenty is betting that he can raise the millions it could take to sustain a campaign past the summer, into the fall and through the contests next winter. But he’s not rich, like Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. He’s not a former lobbyist with a potentially lucrative Rolodex, like Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. And he’s not preparing for a shoestring campaign like the one run in 2008 by Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.

Starting Monday, he has about three months to make a big money push. On July 1, he will have to file a fund-raising report that will demonstrate whether he has succeeded.

2. Visibility. A new Washington Post poll suggests that few people know who Tim Pawlenty is. Nearly 60 percent said they had no opinion of the former governor, suggesting that the money he raises will need to be spent increasing his visibility. The name recognition challenge is not unlike the one faced by Mr. Romney, who spent months polling in the single digits during most of 2007.

3. Message. In the weeks since he left the governorship, Mr. Pawlenty has been road-testing a more conservative message that he hopes will appeal to Tea Party conservatives and establishment party officials alike. But as my colleague Jeff Zeleny pointed out earlier this month, Mr. Pawlenty runs the risk of trying to be all things to all people — and failing on all scores.

More than most of his potential rivals, Mr. Pawlenty has been aggressive in seizing on the issues of the day, whether that’s the union battles in Wisconsin or the budget fight in Washington. The sharp edge to his commentary has helped to swing attention his way but makes shaping a consistent message for the long term a bit more difficult.

4. Fiscal Discipline. Like Senator John McCain of Arizona in 2007, Mr. Pawlenty appears to be building an expensive campaign operation that will burn money at a steady clip now that he’s a candidate. It will take discipline to make sure that he’s not spending money he doesn’t have, on things that aren’t necessary. (Mr. McCain found out the hard way what happens when that discipline is lacking.)

5. Tactics. Of the three states that kick off the presidential nominating season, Iowa is likely to be the most friendly to Mr. Pawlenty, who is from a neighboring state. But his courtship of the state’s heavily evangelical primary voters could be complicated by Representative Michele Bachmann, also of Minnesota, and Mr. Huckabee, who will be aiming for the same audience.

And two other early states — New Hampshire and South Carolina — present challenges of their own for Mr. Pawlenty. In New Hampshire, he’s likely to face stiff opposition from Mr. Romney, who established a home base there in 2009. And South Carolina could be difficult for a Northerner like Mr. Pawlenty, especially if he has to face Mr. Barbour, a Southern governor, or Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker from neighboring Georgia.

The political map of the 2012 Republican primary campaign could be a difficult one for Mr. Pawlenty to navigate. Does he go all out in Iowa the way Mr. Romney did four years ago? And what happens if, as happened to Mr. Romney, someone else wins there instead? Those are all tactical questions that his campaign staff will have to confront now that he is running for president.

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3:33 p.m. | Updated Tim Pawlenty,  the former governor of Minnesota, announced on Monday afternoon that he is opening a presidential exploratory committee, a step that formalizes his race for the Republican nomination that he has been working toward for more than a year.

“There is a brighter future for America,” Mr. Pawlenty said in a promotional video posted on his Facebook page. “We know what we need to do: grow jobs, limit government spending, tackle entitlements.”

Mr. Pawlenty became the first major Republican candidate to file papers with the Federal Election Commission, allowing him to raise money and hire staff members as he further explores a presidential bid. He is opening a campaign office in downtown Minneapolis, but aides said a formal announcement would come later.

In a two-minute video that was set to music, Mr. Pawlenty did not outline any policy positions that he would take in his campaign, but he introduced himself as a former two-term governor who could lift the economy, create jobs and limit government intervention in business.

“We need to encourage the dreamers and innovators, the small business owners, the hard workers, the brave men and women throughout this country’s history that have asked for nothing more than the freedom to work hard and get ahead without government getting in the way,” Mr. Pawlenty said.

He added, “We the people of the United States will take back our government.”

He first disclosed his intentions in a morning conference call to contributors, whom he has been quietly courting for months in a series of events across the country that he calls “friend-raisers.” Raising enough money for a presidential bid is one of his biggest challenges, considering several other likely Republican rivals have established donor networks.

For weeks, Mr. Pawlenty has said that he intends to make his decision before the end of March. The development offers another sign that the fight for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination is well underway, with at least a half-dozen other Republicans also seriously considering entering the race.

Mr. Pawlenty, 50, has been a fixture at Republican events in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire for more than a year. He is largely unknown nationally, but has sought to win over party activists, hoping that his candidacy takes off with strong showings in the early contests next year.

His aides and admirers affectionately call him T-Paw. His political action committee produced a video for the Tea Party rallies – a constituency he is trying to appeal to – branded with the name “Tea-Paw.” But lately, some Republican rivals have also started embracing the name, referring to him sarcastically as “T-Paws,” likening it to the name of a puppy.

But their mocking confirms their private concern that Mr. Pawlenty will be taken seriously in the fight for the Republican nomination.

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Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Tim Pawlenty the former governor of Minnesota, speaking at the CPAC conference in Washington.

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, has scored a 2012 coup of sorts: He will be the keynote speaker at the first Tea Party Policy Summit in Arizona this month.

In a release Friday morning, the Tea Party Patriots announced that Mr. Pawlenty, who is actively considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, will address the group, along with Representative Ron Paul of Texas and other conservative politicians and activists.

“With more than 3,000 affiliated organizations across the county, this summit will be an important opportunity for Tea Party Patriots to come together to celebrate and recommit to the ideals and values that are responsible for the dramatic victories in the November election,” Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, said in a statement.

As the Republican presidential nomination fight gets under way, many of the potential candidates are eagerly vying for the attention and support of Tea Party groups, who emerged in 2010 as a powerful force in elective politics.

Mr. Pawlenty remains largely unknown around the country, and has been seeking to raise his profile with a nationwide tour to promote his new book, “Courage to Stand.” A political memoir, the book details his eight years as governor.

“This Tea Party group is a great champion for tax and spending cuts — something Governor Pawlenty feels strongly about,” said Alex Conant, a spokesman for Mr. Pawlenty. “Governor Pawlenty is looking forward to sharing his lessons learned from winning tough battles with the liberals and public employees’ unions in Minnesota.”

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In the latest Web video for Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota and a likely Republican candidate for president in 2012, there is not a single awe-inspiring, patriotic image that is left out.

The 1-minute-and-13-second video advertising Mr. Pawlenty’s new book, “Courage to Stand,” shows the sun peeking around the clouds and the wall coming down in Berlin (with a brief clip of Ronald Reagan). The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes an appearance, and there are two children, twirling on a beach, playing “Ring Around the Rosie.”

Mr. Pawlenty is seen marching down a hallway, followed by views of the Earth from outer space and the Navy’s Blue Angels streaking across the sky. The Marines are lifting the flag at Iwo Jima and Lady Liberty stands strong in the harbor.

But that’s not all. There are American Olympic winners with gold medals and coal miners with dirt on their faces. There’s a military couple hugging and lots of American flags waving. The New York skyline whizzes by.

All the while, action-movie music increases in intensity as Mr. Pawlenty reminds us that freedom and security are not easy.

“Valley Forge wasn’t easy,” he says. “Going to the moon wasn’t easy. Settling the West wasn’t easy. We are the American people. We have seen difficulties before and we always overcome it.” (Of course, the images are there, too. George Washington in Pennsylvania, Neil Armstrong on the moon, covered wagons.)

The message, apparently, is that Mr. Pawlenty has confronted similar challenges. In his book, he talks about the transit strike he faced down and the budget battle with Democrats that shut down his state briefly.

Mr. Pawlenty is actively considering whether to seek the Republican nomination, and the video should not dampen speculation about his intentions.

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