Concord – Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will unofficially launch the New Hampshire 2012 presidential campaign when he visits the first-in-the-nation primary state in December.

UnionLeader.com has learned the Republican will be the keynote speaker at a fund-raiser on for the Republican Senate Majority Committee PAC on Dec. 16 at the Courtyard By Marriott Hotel in Concord. It’s unclear atthe moment if he will make other stops.

PAWLENTY

While Pawlenty has not explicitly stated that he is considering running for President, he has taken several steps that strongly indicate he’s headed for an eventual campaign.

He unveiled his Freedom First Political Action Committee in October to help elect conservatives in the recent election and in 2010. And he has been traveling the country with campaign-style speaking engagements, railing against President Barack Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership, mostly on health care and the economy.

►Politico.com: NH's 1st Congressional District among '10 most interesting showdowns in 2010'
►Washington Post: Pawlenty's move to the right
►Politico (Nov. 1): Pawlenty assembles his political team
►Gov. Pawlenty's political web site

Last weekend, Pawlenty visited the state that hosts the nation’s first presidential caucuses when he spoke to about 500 Iowa Republicans at a fund-raiser in Des Moines. He is scheduled to speak at The Forum Club in Florida on Friday.

Pawlenty’s Iowa speech was billed as the first high-profile event of the early presidential season in that state.He took aim at Obama and the Democrats, telling the Republicans, “We’ve got Congress -- Democratic-controlled Congress -- messing around with a miserable health care bill. They should be focused like a laser on jobs, not acting like a manure spreader in a wind storm.

“They can’t even get us, in a reasonable time, a vaccine for the H1N1 virus,” he said. “How are they going to manage our health care?”

Pawlenty, 48, often stresses his ability to govern in a state known as a bastion of liberal politics.Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also visited Iowa last weekend during a book-signing tour and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reportedly will visit the Hawkeye State on Dec. 6.

Pawlenty’s upcoming visit to New Hampshire is being arranged by strategist Michael Dennehy, who heads the Dennehy Group in Concord and was a senior adviser to GOP presidential candidate John McCain in 2008 and 2000.

Dennehy, who advises the Republican Senate Majority Committee PAC, said Pawlenty visited New Hampshire twice campaigning for McCain. He said the $50-a-person event was purposely set at an affordable price “to attract people from all across the state.”

Senate Minority Leader Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, said although Pawlenty’s visit will be viewed through the prism of presidential politics, he’s excited to have such a high-profile Republican come to the state and help raise money for the PAC.

“We want to get back in the majority,” Bragdon said. “People know of Governor Pawlenty and we hope that people want to get to know him better.”

Dennehy, who said he met Pawlenty through the McCain campaign, described him as a conservative.He said state Senate Republicans “agree that Governor Pawlenty would be a good, new fresh face for Republicans in New Hampshire to meet and to help raise money for the Republican cause.”

►Politico.com: NH's 1st Congressional District among '10 most interesting showdowns in 2010'
►Washington Post: Pawlenty's move to the right
►Politico (Nov. 1): Pawlenty assembles his political team
►Gov. Pawlenty's political web site

Look for more on Granite State politics in John DiStaso's "Granite Status" column tomorrow, exclusively in print and e-editions of the New Hampshire Union Leader.