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Opinion: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty won’t run for third term. Is he clearing the way for 2012 presidential bid?

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty made it official today -- he won’t run for a third term next year. ‘Being governor should not be a permanent position,’ he said.

The news makes a lot of sense. Pawlenty has twice won with less than 50% of the vote in a state that President Obama carried last year. Plus, like other states, Minnesota is facing budgetary problems that could force some unpopular spending cuts.

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Already there’s lots of talk about what Pawlenty’s move means for the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes. Can the three-term governor from Minnesota, who was on John McCain‘s short list for vice president, gin up a fundraising organization to match the fiscal prowess of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romeny? Can he carve out a niche in a field that already includes such popular-to-conservative-base candidates as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee?

But it seems to us the more interesting question is how Pawlenty’s status as a lameduck will affect his remaining year in office. And no question is more interesting on that front than how Pawlenty will now handle the long-running soap opera known as the Minnesota Senate race.

If the state Supreme Court rejects Republican Norm Coleman‘s appeal, Democrats will pressure Pawlenty to seat Democrat and apparent winner Al Franken. But if Coleman decides to appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Republicans will urge Pawlenty not to sign the election certification that Franken needs to take his seat in Washington.

As the Ticket reported Monday, the Coleman-Franken race has already become something of a national joke. Now, look for this long-running movie, which some might consider more of a tragedy, to keep playing.

-- Johanna Neuman

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