The Hill News

Former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, said this week he regrets being forced to drop out too soon.

“I regret not making different decisions," Pawlenty told Minnesota Public Radio on Tuesday evening.

Pawlenty revealed in two interviews with Minnesota media that he regretted spending big early in his campaign in hopes of winning the Iowa straw poll, which ultimately went to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), and also not just being himself in campaign appearances.

"You get all these people telling you what to do, and in the end, I think you're just better served as a candidate and I think the campaign is better served if you just be yourself," Pawlenty told Minnesota Public Radio. "I'm conservative, but I also don't have the oversized personality that feeds into the entertainment culture.”

Pawlenty also told the Minnesota Star Tribune that he only discovered his campaign was in debt after he dropped out of the race.

"That's a decision we made and it was the wrong call," he said of the failed Iowa bid. Pawlenty indicated the field had changed enough in the two months since he dropped out of the race â€" with Bachmann dropping in the polls and Texas Gov. Rick Perry appearing to surge and then fade just as rapidly â€" that he might have retained a chance had he been able to stay in the race. “We were out of money," he explained.

Pawlenty told the newspaper that it’s “highly unlikely” he will run for president again, but did not rule out a future career in politics. He is currently looking for a job in the private! sector, and has discussed the possibility of becoming a polit! ical com mentator with Fox News.

Pawlenty plans to campaign later this year in Minnesota for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who he endorsed after dropping out of the race.