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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.”

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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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CHICAGO – Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi may not yet be a Republican presidential candidate, but his travel itinerary suggests that may be simply a formality, as he visited President Obama’s hometown on Monday before flying to Iowa to begin testing themes of a probable campaign.

In a luncheon speech to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Barbour delivered a sweeping indictment of the president’s economic and energy policies, saying that expanding the size of government would not lead to the creation of more jobs in the United States.

“Let’s look at their record,” he said. “In the last two years, the federal government spent $7 trillion and our economy lost seven million jobs. I guess we ought to be glad they didn’t spend $12 trillion. We might have lost 12 million jobs.”

Mr. Barbour is among the wide field of Republicans who are considering entering the fight for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He has said that he intends to make a decision after the Mississippi legislative session ends next month.

In a 30-minute address to business leaders, Mr. Barbour offered a preview to the message of his potential candidacy, with a heavy emphasis on traditional Republican themes of economic growth, job creation and increasing oil production through expanding drilling. He delivered more criticism than specific policy proposals.

“In fairness, the Obama administration arrived in office facing some of the worst economic conditions in decades,” Mr. Barbour said. “But for more than two years, this administration and its Congress has pursued policy after policy that created economic uncertainty or directly hurt the economy.”

As the country’s energy policy takes on heightened importance with the turmoil in the Middle East and the nuclear disaster in the wake of the earthquake in Japan, he said: “The Obama energy policy basically boils down to this: increase the price of energy so Americans will use less of it. That’s an environmental policy, not an energy policy.”

He stopped well short of declaring his intentions. In a question following the speech, a man in the audience asked if Mr. Barbour was ready to announce his presidential bid.

“No,” Mr. Barbour said, not pausing for even a moment. As laughter broke out in the room, he added: “That was easy.”

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Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama began his remarks on Friday by offering the condolences of the American people to Japan.

1:37 p.m. | Updated President Obama on Friday rejected criticism from Republicans that his administration was blocking domestic oil production and said his government was prepared to encourage new drilling in the face of rising gas prices.

“Any notion that my administration has shut down oil production might make for a good political slogan, but it doesn’t match up with reality,” Mr. Obama said during a wide-ranging news conference in which he also addressed the earthquake in Japan and the uprisings in the Middle East.

Republicans in Congress said this week that the White House was responsible for the rising price of gasoline. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio on Thursday proposed new efforts to expand domestic oil production.

“The Obama administration has consistently blocked American energy production that would lower costs and create jobs in our country,” Mr. Boehner said on Thursday.

In his news conference, Mr. Obama said his administration was moving to encourage more drilling on land and offshore. But he stressed the need for new investment in clean energies that would help the country wean itself of its dependence on foreign oil.

“Every few years, gas prices go up, politicians pull out the same political playbook and nothing changes,” Mr. Obama said. “I think the American people are tired of talk. We’ve got to work together, Democrats, Republicans and everybody in between.”

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News Speaker John A. Boehner said that Congressional Republicans would introduce several energy bills to encourage domestic oil production.

Asked about the budget negotiations on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama said it would be “irresponsible” for Congress to continually try to operate the government by a series of two-week budget extensions.

But he conceded that the negotiations were not likely to succeed by the end of next week, which would force at least one more extension. He said Democrats and Republicans must find a way to reach a compromise between the cuts that both sides have already proposed.

“Both sides are going to have to sit down and compromise on prudent cuts,” Mr. Obama said.

On the continuing violence in Libya, the president said he had not taken any options off the table as the government and its allies sought ways to force the Libyan leader out of the country.

But he pushed back against criticism that the United States was being too timid in its handling of the crisis Some have criticized the administration for failing to move quickly in imposing a no-flight zone above Libya.

“Now I do take very seriously making sure that any decisions I make involving American military power are well thought through,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama reiterated his belief that America could not stand by if a large-scale slaughter of civilians took place in Libya. And he said the United States and its allies were monitoring the situation to see if that occured.

But he added that “obviously we are going to have to look at what develops on the ground on a case-by-case basis.”

Mr. Obama acknowledged that the situation in Libya and the other events in the Middle East and North Africa over the past several weeks had caused uncertainty in the oil markets.

“Should the situation demand it, we are prepared to tap the significant stockpile that we have in the strategic petroleum reserve,” Mr. Obama said.

But he declined to specify what price gas would have to hit before the government would tap the reserves and release that oil into the market. He said such a release would require a significant disruption in the flow of oil similar to the oil crisis of the 1970s or Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“If we see significant disruptions or shifts in the market that are so disconcerting to people that we think a strategic petroleum release would be appropriate, then we will take that step,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama described himself as “heartbroken” by the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake and tsunami there.

“When you see what’s happening in Japan, you are reminded that for all our differences in language or culture or religion, that humanity is one,” he said. “You think about your own family and you think about how you would feel if you lost a loved one.”

But he said he was confident that Japan would be able to rebuild, and he pledged the United States help in the coming days, largely by bringing heavy equipment to the affected areas.

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President Obama combined two of his passions – basketball and politics –by playing host to a dozen members of Congress at the White House on Wednesday night to watch the televised contest between the Chicago Bulls and the Charlotte Bobcats.

The attendees, according to a list from the White House, were all from Illinois and North Carolina. They included just two Republicans; the White House did not say how many Republicans were invited but declined.

But if the group’s partisan split skewed Democratic, especially counting the First Fan, the dozen lawmakers seemed evenly split between Bulls and Bobcats fans. Also attending were the mayor of Charlotte, Anthony Foxx, and a council member, James Mitchell.

Attendees were to include both senators from Illinois – Richard J. Durbin, the No. 2 Democratic leader, and Mark Steven Kirk, the Republican who last year won the seat that Mr. Obama used to hold. But of North Carolina’s two senators, Kay Hagan, a Democrat, was listed but the Republican, Richard M. Burr, was not.

The nine House members included four Democrats from Chicago – Representatives Danny Davis, Jesse Jackson Jr., Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky; four Democrats from North Carolina — G.K. Butterfield, Larry Kissell, David Price and Mel Watt – and one Republican from North Carolina, Sue Myrick.

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David Lienemann/Associated Press John Strong of West Des Moines, Iowa, held signs protesting Hillary Rodham Clinton, then a Democratic senator from New York, at the Ames straw poll in 2007.

Matt Strawn, the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, on Thursday offered an upbeat assessment of the party’s position in his state, where the nation will hold its first 2012 presidential caucus in less than a year.

“The state that President Obama will encounter, looking to the general election, will be dramatically different than the state he carried in 2008,” Mr. Strawn told reporters at a small gathering at the Washington headquarters of the Republican National Committee.

“We picked up a net gain of over 100 county-level Republican seats in our county courthouses, our boards of supervisors,” Mr. Strawn said.

For Republicans, he noted, there has been change, too. The emergence of the Tea Party movement has the potential to shift the presidential caucus conversation away from the state’s traditional focus on social issues to the group’s concerns about debt, deficits and spending, he said.

So has the Iowa political landscape shifted since the last caucus season in a way that could benefit Republicans? Here’s a look at some key indicators and how they’ve changed. Do Republicans have cause for optimism?

Registered voters: As you would expect, Iowa saw a drop in active registered voters from  2009 to  2011, since there was no presidential election. But according to the Iowa secretary of state, the G.O.P. has about 3 percent more active registered voters in March 2011 than it did in March 2009, while the Democrats are down nearly 8 percent.Big gains in small places: In Carroll County, which has 14,000 total active voters, Republican registration is up 27 percent. In Keokuk, with only 7,000 voters, Republicans are up by 20 percent.Trending Republican everywhere: Even in the state’s largest areas, like Linn and Johnson Counties, Republican registrations are up nearly 4 percent while Democratic registration has dropped.Gains in the Legislature: Republicans picked up 14 seats in the Iowa House last year, seizing control of the chamber by a wide margin. In the Senate, Republicans gained five seats but still trail Democrats there by four.Taking back the statehouse: Terry Branstad, a Republican, won the executive mansion back from Chet Culver, a Democrat, in 2010, giving Republicans control over the executive branch during the presidential campaign.Presidential ratings game: Mr. Obama stands at 48 percent approval in the latest Des Moines Register poll, an improvement over his ratings during the last year. Meanwhile, Iowans blame Republicans and Democrats in Congress just about equally for the nation’s economic problems, but also blame corporations and Wall Street banks, according to the survey.Better than the average: The economic situation in Iowa is better than it is in the rest of the country. As of the end of January, the unemployment rate in the state stood at 6.3 percent, compared with 9 percent for the nation. That could mean a bit less of the anger that fueled the electorate in 2010.

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Alex Brandon/Associated Press Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

It’s been nearly four months since the day after the 2010 midterm elections — otherwise known as the unofficial start of the 2012 presidential campaign — but still, not one Republican candidate.

Sure, there are “hopefuls” and “those who are considering making a bid.” There are people with PACs, and some have hired a few staff members. But with the click ticking toward the first Republican presidential debate in 66 days, there seems to be a reluctance among potential candidates to make it official.

By this time four years ago, Senator John McCain of Arizona had already begun opening campaign offices around the country, had multiple consultants on retainer and was just days away from the official, glitzy relaunch of the Straight Talk Express.

(Of course, all that spending eventually doomed version 1.0 of his campaign; it wasn’t until he ditched all of that and headed to New Hampshire that the campaign took off again.)

By March 1, 2007, Fox News was already reporting on Senator Barack Obama’s connection to the reverend Jeremiah Wright. (Mr. Wright appeared on the Sean Hannity show that evening.)

At that point, Mr. Obama had been an official candidate for president for weeks, having stood in the town square in Springfield on a cold day in early February and declared, “I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.”

Of course, Mr. Obama’s big announcement was preceded by the words “I’m in,” which appeared on the Web site for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York on Jan. 20, 2007. “And I’m in to win,” she wrote. No being coy for her.

It’s all a striking — and, for political reporters — somewhat distressing contrast to the current situation, in which playing coy seems to be the name of the game.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is probably running, but declines to say so. Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, is busy with his state’s budget problems, so he has an excuse for not making a decision.

Likewise for Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. But there’s no such excuse for Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, who teases with Web videos, Facebook posts and a few staffers, but has left everyone guessing whether or not she is going to run.

Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, still works for the current administration as the ambassador to China (though he has formally handed in his resignation.) No word from him in any official way, though his people love to leave little hints.

The latest? A Web site for the Horizon PAC, with a big letter “H” as the logo. That stands for Horizon, they insist.

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is taking his good old time deciding whether to make another run. He had “tea” with reporters in Washington this week, but says he’s in no rush to jump in early like he did the last time around. He told ABC that “it’s not always smart to be the first guy out of the corral and out there in the arena riding around on your pony by yourself.” On “Morning Joe” on Friday, he defended his reluctance, saying, “I’m not going to make this decision impulsively,” and added that he might not make a decision until sometime in the summer.

A few people have made a decision not to run. Senator John Thune of South Dakota announced on his Facebook page (naturally) that he’s determined that he can do more good in the Senate. Representative Mike Pence of Indiana appears to have his eye on statewide office rather than the presidency, and so he took himself out, too.

But the lack of those getting in officially — the only Republican to have formed a presidential exploratory committee is Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza — just means there is more room for people to “express interest.” Thus Donald Trump, the real estate mogul, sweeps into the Conservative Political Action Conference this month as he is “considering” a run. And Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a 2008 contender, happily notes to any interviewer who asks that he’s thinking about it, too. And the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has flirted with the idea of running before, has said he will make a decision within the next several weeks.

One potential candidate who seems to be clearly headed for a run is Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who is hardly trying to hide his intentions — though he, too, has not made anything official.

Just this week, Mr. Pawlenty released a snazzy, fast-paced Web video offering his support for Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, who is waging a battle with public employees unions in his state.

The video (see below) scarcely has Mr. Pawlenty’s picture in it (until the end), but is clearly an effort to curry favor with Mr. Walker down the road.

And Mr. Pawlenty is making no secret of his desire to snatch up Tea Party support wherever he can find it. On Saturday, he will be the keynote speaker for a Tea Party conference in Phoenix.

“Governor Pawlenty will thank the Tea Party movement for their energy and passion, and give them well deserved credit for this fall’s victories,” an adviser to Mr. Pawlenty said. “The Tea Party’s efforts resulted in Nancy Pelosi losing the speaker’s gavel, and electing Republican leaders like Governors Walker, Kasich and Haley.”

The adviser added: “The Tea Party is concerned with holding a line on taxes and spending, and restoring limited government — all priorities for Governor Pawlenty. The Governor will reiterate his call to hold the line on the debt ceiling, repeal Obamacare and stand up to public employees’ unions. He’ll talk about his record of conservative success in a liberal state like Minnesota, and share stories about cutting spending and taxes, and standing up to public employees unions.”

That’s fine. But we political reporters are tired of adding “potential” or “possible” or “hopefuls” when writing about the 2012 race, so maybe he could just go ahead and announce he’s running.

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