Pawlenty dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination following a third-place finish in the August Iowa Straw Polls. An endorsement of Mitt Romney’s campaign led to speculation that he was gunning for the vice presidential spot.

MSNBC host host Lawrence O’Donnell proposed that Pawlenty is Romney’s best prospect for a vice presidential candidate.

“I’ve already said publicly and repeatedly, that’s not something I’m going to consider,” Pawlenty said. ”He’s going to have a lot of great people to pick from as a vice presidential candidates, I’m sure he’ll make a great pick, it will be a great balanced ticket, but that’s not something I’m going to consider.”

Pawlenty said the “bench strength of the Republican Party and conservative movement is incredible,” citing vice presidential prospects for politicians like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen to be John McCain’s running mate over Pawlenty in the 2008 race.

Video: Pawlenty discusses his decision not to pursue or accept a vice presidential offer around the 11:00 mark.

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Pawlenty argued he’s in a good position to judge Romney’s chance at the Oval Office because of his two statewide election wins in “blue state” Minnesota.

Pawlenty, who has officially backed Romney, warned that Pres. Barack Obama shouldn’t be underestimated, and said Republicans shouldn’t waste this opportunity by nominating a “vulnerable candidate.”

Pawlenty also took a veiled swipe at Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“While Romney has long seen that Social Security has severe, long-term financial problems, he favors saving and protecting the program by fixing those problems,” Pawlenty wrote. “He has not denounced the program—as some have done—and called it unconstitutional. He has not proposed that Social Security be turned over to state governments.”

Pawlenty said those positions on Social Security are “untenable” and would “cost Republicans dearly in the election.”

The Romney campaign has recently targeted Perry on his Social Security stances, which use 10th Amendment rhetoric to appeal to the right-wing of the Republican Party. As the Washington Post notes, it’s not clear that those criticisms have hurt Perry in the polls yet.

Jindal joins a host of GOPers including confirmed presidential contenders Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Georgia business owner Herman Cain, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

Other confirmed speakers include House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Steve King (R-Iowa). Among the unconfirmed speakers are Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Every candidate or current congressional leader invited to attend the Values Voter Summit, scheduled for Oct. 7-9 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, is a Republican.

FRC Action — and co-sponsors American Family Values, the Heritage Foundation, Liberty University and Liberty Counsel — have invited several anti-abortion-rights activists including Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, Live Action President Lila Rose and former Planned Parenthood Clinic Worker Catherine Adair.

The three-day conference will include a presidential straw poll and breakout sessions that cover topics such as using religion to impact policy, mobilizing minority communities, and defunding Planned Parenthood.

As The American Independent sister site The Minnesota Independent previously reported, past Values Voter Summits (this is the sixth) tend to create controversy. For example, in 2008, vendors sold “Obama Waffles” with packaging many viewed as racist. Past summit speakers have claimed the anti-Christ will be a gay man, and a preacher made the case that it’s okay to call gays “faggots.”

Pres. Barack Obama’s job plan went to Congress, where it’s expected to face opposition from Minnesota Republicans despite White House claims that the plan would create up to 100,000 jobs in the state.

In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a PAC aligned with Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann put out another ad, this one painting Texas Gov. Rick Perry as soft on immigration. The radio uses the slogan “illegals take jobs.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty left the Republican presidential race with an impressive debt, this week’s endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will likely help ease the burden. (Comedian Stephen Colbert said Pawlenty’s endorsement was like Miracle Whip endorsing mayonnaise). As Romney’s spokesman said: ”If Tim Pawlenty wants our help, that’s something we’d help him with, just as we help all our friends.” Texas Gov. Rick Perry snagged a handful of Pawlenty supporters despite Pawlenty’s endorsement of Romney.

As his formal presidential rivals continue to trudge through the primary process, Pawlenty is planning a vacation; he’ll attend the annual National Review cruise as a guest speaker.

In the Republican tea party debate, Perry came under attack by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for his support of an HPV vaccine mandate. Bachmann later went even further, linking theHPV vaccine to “mental retardation,” which all experts say is false. Despite a storm of criticism, Bachmann has stood firm, saying she never misrepresented herself as a doctor or scientist. Bachmann’s argument against Perry and the drug company, Merck, is now being used in California to urge a veto of that state’s HPV vaccination mandate.

Bachmann spent the days after the debate wooing controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has kept prisoners in tent cities with extreme heat and provided inadequate food.

The Minnesota Independent’s Andy Birkey dug into the beliefs of Bachmann’s main supporters, finding fringe ideas like abolishing public education and even a terrorism charge for stockpiling guns in Uganda.

In Minnesota, the employment rate is stagnant, with 7.2 percent unemployment.

Minnesota for Marriage, a coalition of conservative Christian groups that are working to convince voters to back a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, has signed on the former communications director of the Minnesota Family Council in the run-up to the 2012 vote.

Lynne Torgerson launched her campaign against U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison on 9/11. She said Ellison is a “radical Islamist” who wanted to install Sharia law into the Constitution. Ellison said that this whole movement to ban Sharia law that no one is trying to install in the United States “is a very thin-disguised effort at religious persecution of people who are Muslim.”

Bradlee Dean, head of the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide ministry, was also back in the news with an open letter to Pres. Barack Obama.

A piece in the New York Times about conflict in the Anoka-Hennepin School District brought the issue of harassment of LGBT youth to the nation’s attention. The Minnesota Independent published a primer on the issue, giving a background to the reporting we’ve done on it for the last two years. Citing the school district, U.S. Sen. Al Franken called for an end to discrimination against LGBT students.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz joined the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which now includes 122 House members. Ellison and U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum also signed a letter with 72 other members of Congress urging the IRS to clarify tax rules for legally married same-sex couples—the rules are confusing and contradictory, they said. Members of Congress also announced the HIV/AIDS caucus, although no members of the Minnesota delegation are signed on.

In the special election primary for Senate District 61, state Rep. Jeff Hayden came out on top with DFLers, but Sadik Warfa made a strong showing, demonstrating the growing political clout of the state’s Somali-American population.

In Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, former congressman Rick Nolan picked up a slew of big-name Iron Range endorsements in his bid for the DFL nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack.

If you have any news tips, please contact us at tips@minnesotaindependent.com.

The cruise will host guest speakers like former United States representative to the United Nations John Bolton, Star Tribune columnist James Lileks and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed.

The cruise website heralds Pawlenty’s accomplishments as Minnesota governor: “[Pawlenty] supported requiring visa expiration dates on driver’s licenses, a 24-hour waiting period on abortions, implementing the state’s conceal-carry gun law and changing the state’s education requirements.”

The ship will depart from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and swing past Grand Turk, San Juan and St. Thomas during the Nov. 12-19 cruise. Cabins range from $2,399 to $6,999. Tourists will enjoy “plenty of chances to meet, schmooze and enjoy personal interaction with our special guest speakers,” according to the cruise website.

The National Review cruise gained some negative attention in 2007 when the Independent newspaper of the U.K., sent reporter Johann Hari to cover the event. Hari described a “ship of fools,” where jokes about violence against Muslims, immigrants and liberals were common and old ladies went from “sweet to suicide-bomb in six seconds.” (Hari was later embroiled in a ethics scandal about correct attribution of quotes in high-profile interviews).

Still, this trip promises to be more placid than the recently contentious Republican nomination struggle Pawlenty dropped out of last month: “The cruise will include cocktail receptions, evening cigar and cognac smokers, dinners together, group excursions, and seminar sessions.”

“Just weeks ago these two men were bitter rivals, opposite in every way. And look at them now, it’s like Miracle Whip endorsing mayonnaise,” Stephen Colbert said.

Romney also had Pawlenty backstage as his guest at last night’s CNN and tea party debate, which Colbert said was fitting: ”Plus one, also the number of votes his endorsement has brought to the Romney campaign.”

Pawlenty appeared on Colbert’s show last week, where Pawlenty joked that he considered shooting sparks out of his butt to add campaign excitement.

“Having served as governor of Massachuseets, he turned that state’s budget around from deficit to surplus while simultaneously cutting taxes, but that is not the full measure of what he will bring to the presidency,” Pawlenty wrote of Romney. “His time in government was a moment of service — a way to give back to our country — following a distinguished career in the private sector, where he launched companies and turned around troubled ones.”

Pawlenty begins his writings, which were published Monday morning in the National Review Online and circulated by the Romney campaign, with a bleak assessment of President Barack Obama‘s tenure in the White House, saying “he did not rise to the occasion” of the nation’s great economic crisis.

“His three years of spending, regulating and taxing have not restarted the economy. Unemployment remains at a shocking 9.1 percent. Economic growth is hovering on the edge of a renewed recession,” Pawlenty wrote.

The full endorsement is included below:

Great crises often produce great leaders. Unfortunately, sometimes the timing isn’t right, and neither is the leader.

Barack Obama came into office in the midst of a great economic crisis. Although hopes were high, he did not rise to the occasion. Now that the clouds of enthusiasm and excitement have parted, we see he was obviously unsuited for the task at hand.

President Obama has failed to meet America’s economic challenges.

His three years of spending, regulating and taxing have not restarted the economy. Unemployment remains at a shocking 9.1 percent. Economic growth is hovering on the edge of a renewed recession.

Abroad, the standing of the United States appears uncertain and adrift under the failed leadership of a president who prefers chastising allies to condemning foes.

Fortunately, America may get a second chance: Mitt Romney is running for president, and I am proud to endorse him.

Alone among the contenders, he possesses the unique qualifications to confront and master our severe economic predicament. His abiding faith in our country’s exceptional historical position as a beacon of freedom will make him the most important leader in a world that depends upon a strong America to stay at peace.

Having served as governor of Massachusetts, he turned that state’s budget around from deficit to surplus while simultaneously cutting taxes, but that is not the full measure of what he will bring to the presidency. His time in government was a moment of service — a way to give back to our country — following a distinguished career in the private sector, where he launched companies and turned around troubled ones.

When the 2002 Winter Olympics were on the verge of collapse thanks to a bid-rigging scandal, Romney was asked to take over. The attacks of September 11 created a security nightmare. Romney presided over a highly complex security mobilization, addressed the management troubles plaguing the games, and staged one of the most memorable competitions ever seen on American soil.

Romney is running for president because he is deeply committed to our country, troubled by its current condition, and I believe he can turn it around.

He’s formulated an economic plan — a set of alternatives to the government-oriented programs that Barack Obama has put in place — that is unparalleled in the history of American electoral campaigns. By pressing for fundamental change in the way that Washington taxes and spends, issues regulations, uses energy, interacts with our major trading partners, and deals with our labor force, he fully envisions a way to place America back on the path toward rapid economic growth and full employment.

And at his core, Mitt Romney is a man of great character. He and his wife Ann have been married for more than four decades. She is the love of his life. Together, they have five sons and 16 grandchildren.

But he’s not only a family man, he is a man of principle. He believes in the bedrock conservative ideals of limited government and free enterprise. He will stand up for America’s allies when they are threatened, with fortitude. And he will face down our adversaries. He is a formidable person, and he will certainly be a formidable president. Our allies can count on it, and our enemies should expect it.

Crises indeed produces great leaders. Sometimes it just takes awhile.

“I was out of money,” Pawlenty told Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert Tuesday evening when asked why he dropped from the race.

Referencing his third place finish at the Ames Straw Poll, he added, “I came in third place behind Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul. I think that’s enough for any one person to endure.”

Pawlenty said his campaign wasn’t looking “to only survive,” but wanted to win.

“[These races are] taking on more and more of a reality TV show component. You’ve got to have not just money, but you’ve got to have an entertainment component,” he said.

“I thought about shooting sparks out my butt,” Pawlenty said when questioned by Colbert as to what “entertainment component” the campaign could have brought, then admitted the phrase wouldn’t have been one he would have used while still a candidate.

The video clip is embedded below:

The Legislative Exchange Council (referred to as ALEC) is a conservative nonprofit made up of state legislators and business leaders that writes model bills and resolutions aimed at helping businesses and weakening government entities. The group meets somewhat clandestinely, but much of its legislation has crept into state legislatures all over the country. Florida’s GOP-led Legislature had a significant presence at the group’s August meeting in New Orleans. #

Among the guides and literature circulating at the conference was a handbook called “The State Legislator’s Guide to Repealing ObamaCare” (.pdf). #

The handbook lists “overburdened medicaid programs, higher taxes, harmful individual mandates, job-killing employer mandates and [the] federal takeover of state insurance regulation” as reasons to repeal “ObamaCare.” #

In a chapter titled “How Can You, As a State Legislator, Stop ObamaCare?” the handbook suggests that state legislators “reject ObamaCare discretionary grants that aid in the federal takeover of state health insurance regulation.” #

According to the guide: #

Through its grantmaking, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act conscripts states into enforcement arms of federal policy. While these grants may be attractive to cash-strapped states, federal funding comes with federal strings. It is unlikely that HHS will allow states that accept federal grants to ignore federal mandates. Many states have already refused federal grants designed by Congress to enforce or implement ObamaCare. In 2010, then-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from applying for ObamaCare-related discretionary grants. #

Two states (Alaska, Minnesota) declined federal funding to help set up health insurance exchanges. Five states (Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Georgia, Minnesota) rejected federal “rate review” grants that would have required state insurance officials to enforce new federal rules against “unreasonable premium increases.” And only one state (Connecticut) has accepted federal dollars to expand its Medicaid population in advance of the 2014 deadline. #

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also offered states “free” federal money if they set up new, temporary high-risk insurance pools. (Many states had already enacted a high-risk pool on their own, but in an odd twist, Congress wanted those states to set up a second pool to undercut the ones already in place.) Twenty three states rejected these “free” funds, citing inadequate funding and other concerns. Instead, these states have let the federal government set up the new pools for their citizens. #

The Florida Legislature has faced criticism lately for turning down federal grants while dealing with state spending cuts to health care services. Florida is one of only five states that has rejected a slew of federal grants from the Affordable Care Act. The Legislature turned down money for seniors in nursing homes, money for child abuse and neglect prevention, and money for community health centers — to name a few. However, the Legislature did approve funds for abstinence education. #

State Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, has criticized the Legislature for accepting some funds, while rejecting others. She called the move “hypocrisy.” #

State Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, who is the chair of the Health and Human Services appropriations subcommittee in the Florida House, was among the Florida legislators who attended the conference in New Orleans this year. #

Hudson has been outspoken in defending the Legislature’s actions. He previously told the Independent that despite recent efforts from state agencies and the governor to recoup some of the grants lost, he will reject the funds once more. #

But the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reports that money may have been the deciding factor in his decision to drop out of the race. Anonymous Republicans told Stein that the campaign may be in debt up to $500,000, although other sources said that figure was exaggerated.

Other former Pawlenty supporters confirmed that there was a financial motive to Pawlenty’s withdrawal from the race.

“If there was any mistake, we should have not put as much emphasis on the Iowa straw poll and had a plan that would have carried us through to January, but that became financially impossible,” former congressman and Pawlenty backer Vin Weber told MinnPost‘s Devin Henry in an interview published Monday. Weber is now supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The Pawlenty campaign doesn’t need to disclose how much it spent in the last few months until Oct. 15, but by July, the campaign managed to raise almost $4.5 million, according to records from the Federal Election Commission. In the three months covered by the July quarterly disclosure filing (a period ending on June 30), Pawlenty spent about $2.5 million, leaving $2 million in the bank.

Pawlenty has yet to endorse another candidate.