Last week, in his Absurdly Premature 2012 Watch Column, erstwhile Stumper Andrew Romano mused about the DNC's treatment of Tim Pawlenty, who is steadily becoming target No. 1 for their oppo researchers. Now it seems that Democrats aren't the only ones considering Pawlenty a major player. The Hotline reports that Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC has purchased links on Google so that folks searching for T-Paw (literally, "T-Paw") will be confronted with links to potential 2012 rival Romney.

As I've written previously, I think Romney and Pawlenty will be competing for votes. The religious and very socially conservative voters will flock to Huckabee or Palin types. Younger voters might be attracted to a Jindal type, leaving Romney and Pawlenty to fight it out for the votes of traditional, limited government, small "c" conservatives. Here's what I wrote about this back in early October:

Pawlenty will likely be fighting for Romney's turf. Both men are telegenic former governors (or at least Pawlenty will be—he's not running for a third term in 2010) who will likely focus their campaigns on the economy and their administrative prowess. Both men are socially conservative, but neither is likely to make that the centerpiece of their campaign. And both will fashion themselves Washington outsiders, as will most of the potential field.  

Seems like Romney forces are mobilizing to define that ground as his. Or maybe they're just miffed that Mitt doesn't have a fun nickname like T-Paw.