(CNSNews.com) – Tim Pawlenty withdrew Sunday from the 2012 Republican presidential campaign following a disappointing showing in the Iowa straw poll, and newcomer to the race Rick Perry moved quickly to seek the former Minnesota governor’s endorsement.

Pawlenty took third place in the Iowa Republican Party-hosted poll, obtaining 2,293 votes to winner, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann’s 4,823. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas took a close second, with 4,671 votes.

After Pawlenty announced his withdrawal on Sunday Bachmann – whose sparring with her fellow Minnesotan had been a strong feature of Thursday’s Iowa GOP debate – did not say whether she would seek his endorsement, telling NBC’s Meet the Press that she would call him “to wish him well.”

After making the call Bachmann issued a statement saying she had spoken to Pawlenty: “Running for the presidency requires enormous self-sacrifice. Governor Pawlenty brought an important voice and ideas to the campaign, and he served the people of Minnesota and our country well,” she said. “Our party and our country are better as a result of his service and commitment.”

Texas. Gov. Perry, who formally entered the race on Saturday – and took 718 votes in the straw poll despite not having competed – also issued a statement, praising “a good friend and colleague who I have worked closely with over the years.”

“Gov. Pawlenty’s common-sense conservative voice will remain prominent and influential as we work to beat President Obama in 2012 and get America working again,” he added.

Campaigning in Portsmouth, New Hampshire Sunday, Perry said he hoped to obtain Pawlenty’s endorsement, describing him as a close friend with whom he had spent “a lot of quality personal time” when the two visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pawlenty’s departure and Perry’s entry into the contest means that it remains a nine-way race, for now. Apart from Perry, Bachmann and Paul, the contenders are former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former corporate executive Herman Cain, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.)