In the last week three GOPers with an eye on 2012 — former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin — have weighed in on the race with Tpaw and Palin throwing their support behind Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman and Gingrich endorsing state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava.

(Polling and conversations with those close to the contest on both sides suggest it is now a two-person race between Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens with Scozzafava fading badly.)…

Conservatives dominate the nominating process (as liberals do on the Democratic side) and these are the sort of moments that a relative unknown like Pawlenty will use over the next 18 months to convince voters in places like Iowa and New Hampshire that he is one of them.