Pawlenty's week ends with DC whirlwind

Talk about it

ST. PAUL (AP) — Gov. Tim Pawlenty capped a personally momentous week with a politically enterprising trip to Washington on Friday, squeezing in at least three speeches and a couple of interviews about his future plans.

Pawlenty’s visit came four days after he announced he would forgo a run for a third term as Minnesota governor. It stoked suspicion that he’ll pursue the presidency — an option he wouldn’t rule out.

He made full use of his time in the nation’s capital.

Pawlenty began with a breakfast speech to the Ripon Society, a group that promotes “traditional common-sense Republican principles.” He spent lunch as a special guest of the Republican National Lawyers Association. He was to be a keynote dinner speaker at a convention of the College Republican National Committee on Friday night.

In between, he sat for interviews with the Ripon Society’s in-house publication and a CBS News Web segment.

Pawlenty said in the CBS interview that his Republican Party needs to do a better job attracting younger voters, women and diverse communities.

“We need to be about addition and multiplication and not about subtraction and division,” Pawlenty said when asked about conservatives pushing for a politically purer GOP.

Pawlenty declined to address speculation that he’ll be a 2012 presidential candidate, but did say he would stay in front of the party faithful.

Tags: state and region, news, timpawlenty, tim, pawlenty