Pawlenty to GOP Bloggers: Let Records Do the Talking

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Republican Tim Pawlenty is urging conservative bloggers to search out what presidential candidates have done and not be swayed by who gives the best speech.

The former Minnesota governor made his pitch Saturday at the RightOnline Conference, hours after Rep. Michele Bachmann's rousing reception in her home-state debut as a 2012 presidential candidate.

Pawlenty walked the crowd through a fiscal record he says shows fortitude. He says he took on public worker benefits and cut government spending "before it was cool and popular."

Pawlenty pushed back on criticism that his economic plan for the country is too ambitious. It's predicated on 5 percent growth. Pawlenty compared it to President John F. Kennedy's man-on-the-moon goal, saying the Democrat "didn't say let's have a space program and go to the clouds."

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