With Minnesota's government shutdown in the national news, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty is up with a new ad in Iowa today claiming he "won" the state's last shutdown, as well as the 2004 transit strike.
Pawlenty's ad is the latest to hit on his theme of "results, not rhetoric," a slogan he used in a radio ad released last month in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
While Pawlenty is talking up his past showdowns, the former Minnesota governor also has a stake in the current shutdown as he makes his bid for the White House.
The shutdown can help bolster Pawlenty's conservative credentials and let him tout his past dust-ups, but it also puts Minnesota's $5.2 billion deficit in the national spotlight, a figure that critics tie to Pawlenty, though he claims no responsibility for it.
Pawlenty's 75-cent cigarette "health impact fee" will also get some ink — something that goes unmentioned in his new Iowa ad.
Watch the Iowa ad below:
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