Pawlenty, Bachmann go head to head

In their first national head-to-head presidential matchup, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Michele Bachmann tied at 4 percent in the Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll on Saturday, finishing sixth and seventh.

As expected, Texas Rep. Ron Paul was the runaway winner for the second straight year with 30 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of Pawlenty's main 2012 rivals, finished second with 23 percent, and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson -- who has a platform of legalizing marijuana -- finished third.

Many CPAC-goers say Paul's victory is a skewed barometer of conservative sentiment. Hundreds of student backers of the libertarian favorite, including 700 Young Americans for Liberty, vowed to "take CPAC by storm" to support the Texas congressman. Only 3,742 of the 11,000 conference attendees participated.

Pawlenty and Bachmann finished in the middle of a pack of 15 GOP hopefuls, with all but Paul and Romney registering percentages in single digits. Actual vote tallies weren't released, but Pawlenty was listed as the sixth place finisher, one notch above Bachmann in seventh place.

Last year, Pawlenty finished fourth in the straw poll with 6 percent of the vote, but the field was bigger this time, including newcomers such as Bachmann.

They both did better than Sarah Palin (3 percent) and Mike Huckabee (2 percent). But neither of those two marquee conservatives showed up.

Pawlenty's criss-crossing of the country over the past year garnered him some new supporters, such as George Chianis of Amherst, N.H., who heard Pawlenty speak in New Hampshire.

Among Bachmann's most enthusiastic supporters was Teresa Acosta, a TeaParty.net organizer from Saratoga, Calif., who said she once called Bachmann's office to encourage her to run for president. "There's something about her," Acosta said. "She's very charismatic. She's friendly, and she comes across as confident. I think people really responded to her well."

Ralf Augstroze, a Pennsylvania native who supports Huckabee, said he thought Pawlenty had good values but not enough charisma to win a popular vote. "He lacks that spark," Augstroze said.

The biggest knock against Bachmann was that she was too new to the scene, lacking the experience to mount a presidential bid. Joshua Nehmeh, a banker from California, said he was impressed with Bachmann as a "conservative spokeswoman." But as a presidential candidate? "I'm not sure ... I think a few more years down the road."

JEREMY HERB AND KEVIN DIAZ

Marty: Ray, check your 'red button'

As passions mounted between Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislators over state budget cuts -- leading to the DFL governor's first veto -- there was plenty of political finger-pointing, grandstanding and chest thumping.

But there was also this exchange as the Republican-led Minnesota Senate was voting to pass $901 million in state budget cuts and send them to Dayton.

"Ray, your 'red button' still works, doesn't it? Better check it," said Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, just as Sen. Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake, walked toward his seat to press his "green" button to vote for the cuts.

Pushing the "red button" -- which Marty did -- signaled a vote against the budget cuts.

Vandeveer simply smiled at Marty, who returned the smile.

MIKE KASZUBA

True or false

"There's true facts and there's false facts," Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul on the House floor Wednesday. "I think my facts are true."

"False facts"? Um, OK.