Pawlenty rules out Senate bid -- for now

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has ruled out a Senate bid -- for now.

Pawlenty, who dropped out of the running for the Republican presidential nomination after only placing third in the influential Iowa Straw Poll, told the Associated Press Wednesday he will definitely not run against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota next year.

"I don't know what I will be doing next," he told the AP. "However, I will not be running against Amy in 2012."

Immediately following Pawlenty's bow out of the presidential race, Minnesota Republican party chair Tony Sutton and others in the GOP were encouraging him to consider a Senate bid.

Klobuchar would be a formidable opponent -- the first-term senator has a 61 percent approval rating, according to a June Public Policy Polling survey. The Democratic polling firm showed Klobuchar defeating just about any Republican challenger in a theoretical match up. She leads Pawlenty in a hypothetical match up, 54 percent to 41 percent.

While he may not be running against Klobuchar, Pawlenty could consider running against Minnesota's other Democratic senator, Al Franken, in 2014.

Sutton told Minnesota Public Radio Monday he was hopeful Pawlenty would come around to re-entering Minnesota politics.

"If you asked him today he'd probably say he wasn't thinking about it," Sutton said. "But hopefully in the days and weeks ahead, and as he has time to decompress from this campaign, he'll have time to think about his future, and I think his future's bright."