Pawlenty: Repealing Pro-Abortion ObamaCare Potential Presidential Bid Priority

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 8, 2010   |   2:38PM   |   St. Paul, MN

If pro-life Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty decides to run for president in 2012, he said over the weekend that repealing the pro-abortion ObamaCare health care scheme would be one of his top priorities.

Pawlenty told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday that he will campaign on repealing the law.
 
“I think ‘ObamaCare’ is one of the worst pieces of legislation passed in the modern history of the country,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can in Minnesota to stop, delay or avoid its implementation in my state, including signing an executive order saying we’re not going to participate unless required by law or approved by me.”

“I hope between now and 2014, when it’s fully kicked in, that as many states as possible do what they can to reel that program back, or that the new Republican Congress, better yet, can repeal it, because it’s dragging stuff into Washington, D.C., creating a new bureaucracy, spending a new — a lot of new money that they don’t have, isn’t going to work. We should have market-based solutions,” the governor added.

Pawlenty said he wasn’t sure if he would run for president and may have to delay a decision because of a potentially lengthy recount in the race for his successor.
 
“Well, I don’t know for sure what I’m going to do after I’m done being governor, Candy,” he told CNN. “I’ll decide that early next year.”
 
He also said he is not concerned about polls showing him at the bottom of the presidential pack, saying most people don’t know him outside of Minnesota and Republican circles.
 
“And as to the poll, you know, a lot of those early polls, whether it’s me running or somebody else, reflect familiarity, name ID, and I — you know, you see front-runners in the past with similar situations that change over time,” he said. “So these early polls I don’t think mean much for me or any other potential candidates, especially if you haven’t run before and aren’t well-known.”

 
Ed Morrissey, a pro-life blogger at Hot Air, responded to the comments.
 
“Pawlenty’s remarks made the top of the local news broadcasts last night, which I found rather interesting,” he said.
 
“He may have to stick around for a while if the gubernatorial recount is not settled by the end of the year, and with a Republican legislature for the first time ever, he may have a rare encore for a few decisions on ObamaCare,” he added.