This is a classic Pawlenty move that combines.... 
 
 ...governing principle with clever 2012 positioning. Leaving aside now the substantive merits of the Minnesota governor's executive order, barring some huge development, opposition to ObamaCare will be one of THE animating battles of the war for the Republican nomination. Pawlenty's move allows him to argue that he stood on the frontlines as an elected official and tried to thwart the law through aggressive means. And it allows him to stoke the contrast he and his strategists most want to make with Mitt Romney, whose support for a similar health care measure in Massachusetts continues to bedevil him with many Republicans. 

 Special Project: Losing our lakes 
 
 Officials in Minnesota's vacationland can't say 'no' to those who want to break the rules. Since 2005, land-use boards in Cass and Crow Wing counties allowed hundreds of home builders to break rules aimed at preserving the state's most valuable natural resource, according to a Star Tribune review of thousands of pages of building records. 

 ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: 
 
 Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is moving to limit his state’s participation in the new health care law, in a piece of 2012 positioning that is sure put other governors who covet the presidency on the spot. 
 
 Pawlenty, R-Minn., today signed an executive order forbidding his state’s agencies for applying for new grant programs made available under President Obama’s health care law. 
 
 Pawlenty said he has identified some 15 categories where he believes the new law would conflict with Minnesota policies, including a new sex education program, where the governor rejected an $850,000 grant yesterday. 
 
 “Obamacare is an intrusion by the federal government into personal health care matters and it’s an explosion of federal spending that does nothing to make health care more affordable,” Pawlenty said in a statement. “To the fullest extent possible, we need to keep Obamacare out of Minnesota. This executive order will stop Minnesota’s participation in projects that are laying the groundwork for a federally-controlled healthcare system.” 
 
 Pawlenty told reporters in Minnesota that he would do all in his power to limit the reach of the new health care law during his remaining four months in office. 
 
 “Anything that I can do to slow down, limit or negate Obamacare, I'm going to try to do it within reason,” he said. 
 
 The move is sure to put pressure on other Republican governors who are considering presidential runs to demonstrate their opposition to the law. Other Republican presidential contenders who now serve as governor include Indiana’s Mitch Daniels, Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal. 
 
 The move also serves to differentiate Pawlenty from former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., who is no longer in office and therefore can’t make any similar move. 
 
 Pawlenty has already begun criticizing Romney for the health care law he passed to bring universal coverage to Massachusetts – a bill Pawlenty and other Romney critics have cast as a model for Obama’s health care plan.
– Tim Pawlenty is using the power of the governor's office to stake a claim against President Obama's health care overhaul—and get a leg up on other 2012 presidential aspirants. Pawlenty today forbid state agencies in Minnesota from applying for grant money available under the legislation, including a sex-education program, reports ABC News. “Anything that I can do to slow down, limit or negate Obamacare, I'm going to try to do it within reason,” he said. It's a smart move politically, writes Mark Halperin in Time: "Opposition to Obamacare will be one of THE animating battles of the war for the Republican nomination," he writes. "Pawlenty's move allows him to argue that he stood on the frontlines as an elected official and tried to thwart the law through aggressive means." The Minneapolis Star Tribune has the executive order in full here.