It's desperate time in the Pawlenty camp with the staff making little to no salary and early state polling showing Pawlenty at the back of the pack even in places where he has a 70% name ID.
Today, the Pawlenty campaign rolled out former Bachmann chief of Staff Ron Carey to pen an op-ed in the Des Moines Register attacking Michelle Bachmann and her readiness to be president, while at the same time endorsing Tim Pawlenty.
“The Bachmann campaign and congressional offices I inherited were wildly out of control. Stacks upon stacks of unopened contributions filled the campaign office while thousands of communications from citizens waited for an answer. If she is unable, or unwilling, to handle the basic duties of a campaign or congressional office, how could she possibly manage the magnitude of the presidency?”
Carey has been an early Tim supporter of Tim Pawlenty and one of Michelle Bachmann's disgruntled former Cheif's of Staff (she's had six in five years). It's also not the first time that the Pawlenty campaign has rolled out Carey to endorse Pawlenty publicly and attack Bachmann. It's a sign that while Tim Pawlenty would like to be the anti-Romney for Republican voters his first task is to be the anti-Bachmann.