Gov. Tim Pawlenty may not be officially running for president yet — and the first presidential primaries are still 16 months away — but he's hired his first staffer in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday that Pawlenty's Freedom First political action committee has hired Ben Foster as a full-time Iowa staffer. Pawlenty is the first 2012 GOP hopeful to do so.
Pawlenty has traveled to the Hawkeye state five times this past year, most recently for the state fair, and he'll return again in October. Pawlenty started an Iowa state PAC in June, and had raised $32,500 in the state by July, the end of the latest filing period there.
On Monday, Politico wrote that the 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls are off to a "slow start," and Pawlenty was the only potential candidate "taking all the traditional steps in pursuit of a presidential bid."
Pawlenty has said he will decide whether he's running for president early next year.
