Though wounded after coming in a disappointing third in Saturday's Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, Tim Pawlenty told his supporters last night in an e-mail that he was very "proud of the work my campaign has done," and said that Saturday was important to show progress in his campaign, "and we did just that."
But even before he hit the sack Saturday night, his advisers said there would be an early conference call Sunday morning to discuss his next move, which ended up being a big one: he is dropping out the race, becoming the first serious 2012 GOP candidate to withdraw after putting in the effort to be the nominee next year.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.