Tim Pawlenty, who is exploring a run for president in 2012 and is sometimes lampooned as somebody nobody knows, has created a buzz in political circles by hiring Nick Ayers as campaign manager for his exploratory committee. 
The former Minnesota governor, known to supporters as “T-Paw”, announced the hiring of Ayers, the former executive director of the Republican Governors Association, on his website and on Twitter, where he asked followers to follow his new guy @nick_ayers .
Pawlenty praised Ayers’ fundraising prowess. “In 2010 alone, the RGA shattered all previous fundraising records, and Ayers managed a $112 million budget, deploying $102 million directly into independent expenditures and campaigns.”
NBC’s First Read said it was a blow to Haley Barbour, a potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination, because Ayers was RGA executive director when the Mississippi governor was chairman. “Many insiders will read this move as potential evidence Barbour may be having second thoughts.”
The Caucus blog of The New York Times says Ayers, 28, was courted by several presidential hopefuls partly because of the success of the Republican Governors Association in the gain of six Republican governors in the 2010 election.
“There is a battle to be waged over what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren and that battle is happening now in Washington, not two years from now,” Thune said. “So at this time, I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America’s future here in the trenches of the United States Senate.”
