Pawlenty Tells Agencies to Shun Funds on Obamacare

Tim Pawlenty is using the power of the governor's office to stake a claim against President Obama's health care overhaul—and get a leg up on other 2012 presidential aspirants. Pawlenty today forbid state agencies in Minnesota from applying for grant money available under the legislation, including a sex-education program, reports ABC News. “Anything that I can do to slow down, limit or negate Obamacare, I'm going to try to do it within reason,” he said.

It's a smart move politically, writes Mark Halperin in Time: "Opposition to Obamacare will be one of THE animating battles of the war for the Republican nomination," he writes. "Pawlenty's move allows him to argue that he stood on the frontlines as an elected official and tried to thwart the law through aggressive means." The Minneapolis Star Tribune has the executive order in full here. (More Tim Pawlenty stories.)