Ever since former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination, the question remained of when and if he would endorse any of his former rivals. That question was answered today when Pawlenty endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Not to be outdone, Texas Governor Rick Perry also received a high profile endorsement today from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a strong stamp of approval in conservative circles.
Report from the Des Moines Register:
Tim Pawlenty threw his support behind presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday, nearly a month after the former Minnesota governor nixed his own campaign because of a poor Iowa Straw Poll showing.
Hours later, CNN reported that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal would endorse Texas Gov. Rick Perry before attending the GOP candidate debate that evening as his guest. Likewise, Pawlenty is attending the event as Romney’s guest.
The tit-for-tat announcements beg the question: what’s an endorsement really worth at this point in the race?
“It’s good for a newspaper story,” said Eric Woolson, a former advisor to Pawlenty’s campaign.
Woolson, who currently supports candidate Michele Bachmann, said an endorsement’s greatest value may be as a morale boost for the candidate’s supporters.
“Gov. Jindal’s endorsement is a strong statement of support for a new leader who will get America working again,” said Robert Haus, Rick Perry’s Iowa chairman.
Pawlenty could lend a little support to Romney, however, most of Pawlenty’s support had already dropped to a second choice of Bachmann and, perhaps, maybe Perry. In the grand scheme of things, neither endorsement will make a huge difference down the road other than to say that the battle lines are being drawn within the party. I’m wager that most anyone who was a fan of Bobby Jindal was already a fan of Rick Perry since their politics are cut from similar cloth.
