DAVID GREENE, host: We're back with ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
The finish line is still a long way off, but let's take a quick look at the Republican race. Tim Pawlenty.
TIM PAWLENTY: I'm going to be ending my campaign for president.
GREENE: But just a beginning for Rick Perry.
Governor RICK PERRY: I declare to you today as a candidate for president of the United States.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
GREENE: Ron Paul has made a move.
Representative RON PAUL: Looks like a very exciting day, and we're delighted with the way things are going.
GREENE: So has Michele Bachmann, fresh off her photo finish win in the Iowa straw poll.
Representative MICHELE BACHMANN: We are going to do it. It's going to happen. 2012 is ours.
GREENE: Well, 2012 also belongs to our senior Washington editor, Ron Elving, who has joined me to talk about all this. Hello, Ron.
RON ELVING: Hey, David.
GREENE: So I know that politicians always tell us we're supposed to avoid reporting on the horserace, but, I mean, come on, how can we resist after these last 24 hours?
ELVING: Well, we don't want to overemphasize the horse race. But after all, one of these horses may wind up in the White House, so it matters. And this has been quite a weekend already, and it's not over yet. The Iowa straw poll, first big media event, even if it doesn't commit any delegates, Michele Bachmann, a big winner there. Several others in the field probably saw their dreams fading away yesterday.
GREENE: And one of those people seems to be Tim Pawlenty, who is now officially out as of today. I mean, Ron, he spent millions of dollars. He hired a staff. He even based his whole operation out of Iowa. How does his goodbye rank in the whole history of political flameouts?
ELVING: Not nearly at the top. You know, Pawlenty was never the front-runner. He was a contender to be the challenger to the front-runner who remains Mitt Romney. And, you know, Pawlenty never made much of a showing in national polling. And yesterday, essentially, what he lost was the Minnesota showdown with Michele Bachmann. They went at each other, hammer and tong. She won; he lost. It's over.
GREENE: Mitt Romney you say the front-runner but didn't really commit to anything in the straw poll. So even though he didn't win doesn't lose much, I guess. Bachmann does win. She does the speed dating tour of network talk shows today. Is there any stopping her in Iowa?
ELVING: She would appear to be the front-runner for the Iowa caucuses, just a little less than six months from now. And who knows? Maybe this is the first of many great Sundays for her, many great days in the campaign, or it's also possible that she peaked yesterday. We're going to know the answer to that when we see her go head-to-head with Rick Perry.
And Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, just got in over the weekend. They're together at an event in Waterloo, Iowa, tonight. That's going to be something of a test of their relative star power and appeal. And I think we're going to see that particular matchup go for the next several months. It's conceivable the two of them could be in a contest in the Iowa caucuses that ultimately benefited somebody like Mitt Romney.
GREENE: So Rick Perry - what did you make of his whole rollout? I mean, he leaks word a couple of hours before the debate last Thursday that he's going to enter the race. He announces yesterday at the same moment that straw pollers were voting in Iowa. This wasn't too subtle.
ELVING: No, and the Iowans did not like it. They felt that they had been stepped on more than a little bit. But they will probably get over that if they get to like Rick Perry. So the story of the weekend is probably going to be Rick Perry as much as it is Michele Bachmann, and that has to be a little discouraging for her.
GREENE: Before I let you go, Ron, Sarah Palin, not coincidentally probably, shows up in Iowa yesterday, but Bachmann gets all the headlines there. Can we finally say Palin is on the shelf, or could she still make a late decision to come in?
ELVING: She could. I would never put her on the shelf, but I think we know at this point that she's getting to be a little bit more interested in reality TV than in actually getting out and competing for the presidential nomination. She still has time, but she needs to make that move. She didn't make it this past week.
GREENE: To me, the secretary of political editors, Ron Elving. Thank you for joining us, Ron.
ELVING: Thank you, David. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.