Via his website, which is sporting a spiffy new red, white, and blue “R” logo to match you-know-who. Anyone want to venture a theory on why he’d choose to announce his exploratory committee on the eve of the fifth anniversary of RomneyCare? He told fundraisers a few weeks ago that he was planning an announcement in early April, but that window left him plenty of time to do it last week or even later this week — maybe on Tax Day, after the R-Care reminiscences had come and gone. Is this part of some nascent strategy to tackle his chief political liability head on, by, er, giving the media a new opportunity to remind conservatives about it? I honestly don’t get it.

Quite a contrast here between Romney’s minimalist approach and Pawlenty’s kinetic, melodramatic spot declaring his own candidacy a few weeks ago. T-Paw breaks out the bells and whistles because he needs to get people’s attention, Mitt opts for understatement to convince voters that he’s authentic and sincere. He’s wearing the campaign equivalent of a plaid shirt while Pawlenty’s decked out in a sequined jacket. Eighteen months (and a few weeks) until election day!