Pawlenty follows Palin's lead; endorses Hoffman

Red State.com's Erick Erickson has the scoop:

With polling now showing NY-23 has come down to a two man race between Hoffman and Owens, the Democrat, momentum is clearly in Hoffman’s favor.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is now adding to the momentum becoming the first sitting Republican Governor to endorse Hoffman. This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin’s endorsement from last week.

Erickson says that Pawlenty's endorsement is remarkable because the Minnesota governor "has not been seen as diverging with the Republican establishment." He adds that Pawlenty's bold move redraws the battle lines for 2012:

I still don’t think Palin is going to run, but even were she, we now have two candidates, a former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate and a sitting Governor and potential 2012 candidate breaking with the establishment in favor of the Republican base.

Moreover, with Palin and now Pawlenty on board, will Mitt Romney and other potential 2012 GOP presidential candidates feel the pressure?

Now we’re going to have to ask where the other 2012 candidates are. Who else is willing to be brave and bold. Who else will defy the beltway and stand with the heartland? Conservative activists have legitimately made New York’s 23rd Congressional District a Hill to Die On. The GOP establishment must know that it will either win with us or lose without us.

When asked Thursday, just minutes before Sarah Palin made her announcement that she was endorsing Doug Hoffman, Pawlenty had declined to make an endorsement, explaining that he was not familiar with the details of the race in NY-23:

"You know I haven't been following that, I haven't studied the race at all," he said. "It's not that I would or wouldn't, I just don't know anything about it. I haven't taken the time to study their positions, their records, so I haven't taken a position on it."

It appears that the Minnesota governor did some homework over the weekend. We applaud Tim Pawlenty for following Sarah Palin's lead. Read Erick's full RedState.com diary, including Pawlenty's statement, in its entirety here.

- JP