Changes
/* Political Career */
Pawlenty was elected to the Minnesota [[House of Representatives]] in 1992, and reelected five times. In 1998, he was elected as the state House Majority Leader. In 2002, Pawlenty was the Republican nominee for Governor. He faced strong opposition from Minnesota DFL state senator Roger Moe, and independent candidate, former Congressman Tim Penny. Opinion polls that showed the race tight, however he won the election by seven percentage points, mostly by winning voters in the suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
As Governor, Pawlenty has balanced Minnesota's budget three times without raising taxes, despite facing record budget deficits. Governing as a [[fiscal conservative]], he enacted a property tax cap and eliminated the marriage penalty. On November 30, 2005, a $701 million projected surplus was announced, the first budget surplus for the Minnesota state government since 2001. He proposed and signed into law welfare reform that requires able-bodied people to seek work.<ref>http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/aug/28/get-to-know-tim-pawlenty/</ref> Pawlenty was the chairman of the National Governors Association from 2007 to 2008. He describes himself as Pro-Life and supports overturning [[Roe v. Wade]]. On [[gun control]] he supports statewide background checks to carry firearms.<ref>http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Tim_Pawlenty_Gun_Control.htm</ref> Governor Pawlenty opposed Obama's [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009]],
"Most Republican governors and most Republicans are concerned or opposed, or concerned for these reasons: The federal government is spending money it doesn’t have. They are deeply in debt and getting deeper in debt by the hour. They’re borrowing money to do that, mostly from the [[Chinese]]. And it’s money we don’t have." <ref>http://www.pri.org/politics-society/government/tim-pawlenty-stimulus-bill.html</ref>
However, he still accepted the stimulus money for his state,
:"What is the rule that you can’t participate in federal legislation if you’re concerned about it? If you’re a liberal governor and you’re opposed to military spending, does that mean you don’t take the National Guard money? If you’re opposed to [[No Child Left Behind]], do you not take that money?" Pawlenty was the chairman of the National Governors Association from 2007 to 2008. He describes himself as Pro-Life and supports overturning [[Roe v. Wade]]. On [[gun control]] he supports statewide background checks to carry firearms.<ref>http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Tim_Pawlenty_Gun_Control.htm</ref>
In September 2009, Pawlenty accused President [[Barack Obama]] of imperiling the nation’s security and pushing a far-left agenda that threatens to leave the nation drowning in debt. He reserved his harshest criticism for Obama’s decision to scrap a controversial plan for a missile defense shield in [[Europe]].
