Pawlenty headed to Arizona for tea party summit this weekend

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will travel to Phoenix, Arizona today for a Saturday afternoon speech at the Tea Party Patriots' "American Policy Summit."

Pawlenty is scheduled to speak at 1:00 (MST). Pawlenty will also be signing copies of his book,

Courage to Stand: an American Story

. Pawlenty's last major speech was at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this month in Washington, DC.

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That CPAC gathering featured a presidential preference straw poll that had Pawlenty and 6th District Rep. Michele Bachmann tied for sixth-place with 4 percent support. The tea party summit will also conduct a straw poll. It will release results on Sunday afternoon.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who came in first in the CPAC straw poll, is also speaking at the Arizona event.

UPDATE:

A Pawlenty staffer said the former governor will use his tea party speech to thank tea party supporters for their efforts during last fall's mid-term elections. The staffer also said Pawlenty will, once again, call for holding the line on the debt ceiling and repealing "Obamacare." Pawlenty will also highlight his record of conservative success in a liberal state and talk about standing up to public employees unions."