Pawlenty Won't Sign Iowa Marriage Vow

Tim Pawlenty released a statement today saying he wouldn’t be signing the “Marriage Vow” that got Michele Bachmann in so much trouble, the AP reports. Pawlenty said he supports “the core principles of the Family Leader’s Marriage Vow Pledge,” but that “rather than sign onto the words chosen by others, I prefer to choose my own words, especially seeking to show compassion to those who are in broken families through no fault of their own.” (Time has the statement here.) He joins Mitt Romney in refusing to sign.

Pawlenty released a six-minute video (left) in which he and his wife discuss their faith, and run through a host of socially conservative talking points, saying that God “values traditional marriage as between one man and one woman,” that the founders would want us to be pro-life, and that separation of church and state was “intended to protect people of faith from government, not government from people of faith.” (More Tim Pawlenty stories.)