Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty raised $160,000 in the opening days of his presidential exploratory committee, Federal Election Commission records filed Friday show.

Pawlenty, who is preparing a 2012 presidential run, had asked donors to wait to contribute until April 1, the start of the second quarter. The main reason was that the first big fundraising test will come in the second quarter, which spans April to June, as no other major 2012 hopeful had a presidential exploratory committee before March 31, the end of the first quarter.

Pawlenty started his committee on March 21, so the $160,000 was raised over 11 days.

Pawlenty spent $43,000 in that time on mostly salaries and administrative costs.

While Pawlenty has not officially declared he's running for president, he is able to begin raising money with an exploratory committee.