OTTUMWA, Iowa -- Tim Pawlenty walked into the Vine Coffee Shop, shaking hands and chatting with people like they were long-time friends.
It is where the former Minnesota governor looks most at home, talking one-on-one with people. In this case, the people's hands he was shaking could pave his road to the White House because they are Iowans who expect one-on-one treatment from presidential candidates.
His interpersonal skills helped him win the Minnesota governorship twice, in what he likes to call hostile Democratic territory. Now he is trying his hand at the same thing in Iowa, where an Aug. 13 straw poll sets the stage for the rest of the campaign for the first-in-the-nation Iowa presidential caucuses on Feb. 6.
The 50-year-old opened by telling about 75 southern Iowans that his wife, Mary, had a grandfather from Leon, Iowa, and as usual started his 20-minute talk with a joke.
As Pawlenty turned serious, he tossed the Republican crowd red meat, criticizing Democratic President Obama:
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"One of the ways we got into this mess is that the Democrats in Iowa decided to launch towards the presidency of the United States somebody who was ill suited for the job ... somebody who was a college professor, somebody who was a community organizer, somebody who was in the United States Senate just long enough to have a cup of coffee before it got cold."
But the 20-minute speech in the southern Iowa coffee house was more than an attack on the incumbent. It laid groundwork for his more immediate job, convincing Republicans that he is their most qualified presidential candidate.
"I've got to the skills and experiences and the record of results and the values and the ideas to lead America forward to a better place," Pawlenty said.
With the critical Ames, Iowa, straw poll fast approaching, he has a lot of convicting to do. So he scheduled 20 campaign stops in the week before the caucus, including at the Iowa State Fair.
Dean Snakenberg of Ottumwa, who said he leans Republican, wanted to see the former governor, but also was looking at Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Ron Paul.
"I just want somebody who knows what they are doing," Snakenberg said.
Carole Salus of nearby Floris worked for Bachmann in her first run for the Minnesota Legislature, but also supported Pawlenty's governor campaigns. The former Duluth and Stillwater-area resident pushed through the crowd to shake Pawlenty's hand, but did not express a preference.
Outspoken Tea Party activist Linda Clark of Ottumwa said she will not decide whom to support until the Ames straw poll.
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Pawlenty said the decision to run was not "about winning an election, it is about saving the country."
Pawlenty gave more details of his plans than many candidates do.
He called for lowering tax rates, but eliminating deductions, "all the special deals," he called them. "Let's have the rules of the road the same for everybody."
Pawlenty eased the minds of the aging southern Iowa audience by promising those at retirement or near retirement age still would get Social Security payments they expect, but those two or three decades away from retiring would face a new program.
To the agriculture-dependent Ottumwa community, he said federal regulations such as from the Environmental Protection Agency should be approved by Congress and end in three to five years.
