With polling now showing NY-23 has come down to a two man race between Hoffman and Owens, the Democrat, momentum is clearly in Hoffman’s favor.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is now adding to the momentum becoming the first sitting Republican Governor to endorse Hoffman. This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin’s endorsement from last week.

What makes this stand out even more than the Palin endorsement is that Pawlenty has not been seen as diverging with the Republican establishment. He’s not seen as the maverick that Palin is.

But Pawlenty has a huge amount of stature inside the Republican establishment, more so than Palin. That he is now willing to come out in favor of Hoffman is going to resonate among the Republican establishment in ways Palin’s endorsement will not.

And it now sets up battle lines for 2012. I still don’t think Palin is going to run, but even were she, we now have two candidates, a former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate and a sitting Governor and potential 2012 candidate breaking with the establishment in favor of the Republican base.

Governor Pawlenty sent RedState the following statement:

“We cannot send more politicians to Washington who wear the Republican jersey on the campaign trail, but then vote like Democrats in Congress on issues like card check and taxes. After reviewing the candidates’ positions, I’m endorsing Doug Hoffman in New York’s special election. Doug understands the federal government needs to quit spending so much, will vote against tax increases, and protect key values like the right to vote in private in union elections.”

Now we’re going to have to ask where the other 2012 candidates are. Who else is willing to be brave and bold. Who else will defy the beltway and stand with the heartland? Conservative activists have legitimately made New York’s 23rd Congressional District a Hill to Die On. The GOP establishment must know that it will either win with us or lose without us.

And now we are seeing who is willing to stand with us on this Hill. Tim Pawlenty, today, proves he is willing to put principle above party. Tim Pawlenty is willing to stand with the Republican Base, the tea party activists, and the Conservative Movement.

When 2012 rolls around, Palin and Pawlenty’s boldness will be remembered. Which of the other potential candidates will side with conservatives over the beltway establishment?

And we should also remember Fred Thompson, the Club for Growth, Dick Armey, Rick Santorum, Steve Forbes and other real conservatives — all of whom have gone all in for Doug Hoffman.

Sarah Palin is giving a big endorsement. She’s out swinging for Doug Hoffman, noting he is not a tool of the establishment.

The big loser here is Tim Pawlenty. At the first of this month, he made a great deal out of his new leadership PAC. He made great hay out of going out for real conservatives and not just the same old, same old.

Today there is this:

“You know I haven’t been following that, I haven’t studied the race at all,” he said. “It’s not that I would or wouldn’t, I just don’t know anything about it. I haven’t taken the time to study their positions, their records, so I haven’t taken a position on it.”

That is disappointing and further bolsters the Pawlenty stereotype as milquetoast establishment.

Today a number of Red State contributors took the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. A number of other bloggers did too, and if you’re interested in the assessments of other smart people, I encourage you to read Brad Jackson, Jim Geraghty, Ed Morrissey, Jim Antle, Marc Ambinder, and Chip Hanlon.

I’ll salute Pawlenty for one thing: we at Red State have done our best to hammer home the point that prospective 2012 candidates had better engage in 2010, and Pawlenty seems to get it. His new Freedom First PAC is clearly and explicitly focused on the elections before 2012. I’m glad to see that Pawlenty’s first real step onto the national scene is set on the right goal - even if there is legitimate question about the effectiveness of these PACs generally.

Pawlenty makes clear that his PAC is all about promoting freedom - first and foremost economic freedom. He spoke about promoting choice in medical care and education, and advocating for limited government. The word ‘freedom’ came up a lot.

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Tim Pawlenty is on the phone with me now. A few of us were asked to get up early and be on a conference call this morning. We did not know what it was about.

Now we know. He is starting a new leadership PAC as he heads out the door of political office.

His PAC is going to be called the Freedom First PAC. The particular focus will be “on re-elevating the principles of freedom and liberty first . . . in the political discussion.”

This sounds very much like the first step toward a run for the White House in 2012. Everyone sets up a leadership PAC to fund other campaigns and, in effect, buy support.

He says he wants to do outreach to younger voters and also to demographic areas that haven’t really gotten the conservative message.

“Overburdensome taxes and regulations” will be one focus of the PAC as those issues hurt freedom and deprive people of economic liberty.

He also talks about school choice and families “locked into school systems that are failing them.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, whose decision not to seek a third term as governor sparked immense speculation among Republicans about a 2012 campaign, announced today he will launch the “Freedom First” PAC in early November, granting him the opportunity to curry favor among the party faithful by raising and transferring sums of money to state and federal Republican candidates.

After launching a website last week describing Pawlenty as “extreme,” the Democratic National Committee today characterized the potential 2012 contender as a “part-time Governor” after news surfaced he was to launch a political action committee.

“Tim Pawlenty is quickly becoming the definition of ’say one thing and do another’. Today’s news about Pawlenty starting a political action committee is just the latest in a series of broken pledges by the Governor - first breaking his pledge to not raise taxes on the people of Minnesota, and now breaking his pledge to finish his term ‘strong’ as Governor,” said DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan.

“This is just more evidence that Pawlenty is, at best, a part-time Governor who cares more about his national political ambitions than the people of Minnesota,” he said in an email to reporters this afternoon.

While the formation of PACs are indeed a signature of budding presidential campaigns, Democrats have not always been of the opinion they somehow represent a “broken pledge” or a dereliction of duty, as one political advisor close to Pawlenty noted.

Then-Senator Hillary Clinton filed a statement of organization for her leadership PAC, “HILLPAC,” on January 5, 2001, spending eight years as a “part-time” Senator before leaving her post in 2009.

On June 25, 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama announced the formation of “Hope Fund,” whose donations to politicians in key 2008 primary states raised questions of legality on the level of coordination between the PAC and the Obama campaign.

And four days after the official formation of Obama’s “Hope Fund” PAC, then-Senator Joe Biden filed a statement of organization with the FEC for his “Unite our States” PAC, in anticipation of his campaign for president in 2008.

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Earlier in the week, I noted that the Democratic strategy with respect to the Minnesota Senate recount between Norm Coleman and Al Franken is to demand that Franken be seated if the state courts rule in his favor. Chuck Schumer was saying it, while the academics on the left were laying out the argument that the federal courts wouldn’t take it.

But there is a fly in the ointment. The Chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (that’s what they call Democrats up there) seems to think that Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is right on this and Chuck Schumer is wrong. Here he is on video saying that if the federal courts intervene, Governor Pawlenty can’t issue a certificate of election, which Harry Reid demands for seating. Or at least did when the duly appointed Roland Burris was up.

Chucky and Harry foiled again.

H/T The Hill.