With his announcement Monday that he will seek the presidency, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty joins the top tier of the Republican primary process. We take a look at him today as the first installation of a Washington Examiner series on the pros and cons of each potential challenger to Barack Obama. PROS

Blue-collar appeal: Pawlenty is one of five children and the first in his family to get a college degree. His father drove a milk truck and he lost his mother to ovarian cancer when he was 16. Pawlenty worked his way through high school, college and law school before becoming a lawyer in 1986. He wants to rebrand Republicans as “the party of Sam’s Club, not the country club.”