Pawlenty placed a distant third at the Ames Straw Poll, getting half as many votes as Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul each received.

Pawlenty officially announced the news on ABC this morning.

"I'm going to be ending my campaign for president," Pawlenty said. "I wish it would have been different, but obviously the path way forward for me doesn't really exist."

The campaign, he conceded, had needed "traction or lift" from the Ames results in order to keep fundraising.