Tim Pawlenty Announces He's Officially In For 2012

Today, Tim Pawlenty will be officially in the race for 2012 and he will be making his announcement from Iowa: 

As I predicted before, Tim Pawlenty announcement will be overshadowed by other candidates: It is already happening.

For example, Tim Pawlenty is making his announcement now before Michelle Bachman does because he doesn't want to be eclipsed by her but its already too late. Even though Michelle Bachmann hasn't made any decision about whether or not she will be running in 2012, people are talking about her rather than T-Paw:

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, another Minnesota Republican who is exploring a White House run, is believed to be ready to formally announce her candidacy soon, possibly within the next week. Bachmann could be expected to pull well among social conservatives in her native Iowa, overshadowing Pawlenty and complicating his hopes of doing well there. Like Pawlenty, she has been traveling extensively in the Hawkeye State, where she plans to spend Memorial Day weekend before heading to first primary state New Hampshire.

Some people will make a quick mention of his announcement and then move on to talk about other candidates like Jon Hunstman:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty makes it official this morning. He’s jumping into the race for the 2012 Republican nomination for president. Not with a third installment of “The Bourne Candidacy” but with three network interviews that will almost assuredly go better than Newt Gingrich’s one disastrous turn on “Meet the Press” last Sunday. But since he’s got a whole week’s worth of I’m-running activities, my focus right now is not on Pawlenty. It’s on Jon Huntsman.

Tim Pawlenty is already getting lost in the news cycle just on the very day he has makes candidacy his candidacy official. That is not very good news for a first tier candidate with very little national name recognition.