But first things first. Below is the clip from the 2006 movie “Talledega Nights” that provided Pawlenty with one of his most commented-on gag lines, used to describe his wife. After calling the movie “goofy” and “silly,” Pawlenty set about recounting a scene in which Will Ferrell, as race car driver Ricky Bobby, gives a dinner-table blessing that includes thanks for this “red-hot, smoking wife.” (Note that Pawlenty resisted using Ferrell’s addendum to that description: that his wife is also a “stone-cold fox.”)

The Weekly Standard’s Daily Grind liked it: “I don’t immediately think of Tim Pawlenty as being cool with the pop-culture references, but quoting Ricky Bobby shows promise.”

The Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich seems to fall in the “didn’t bring it” camp:

“… Pawlenty delivered a spirited performance … but it didn’t automatically scream ‘presidential candidate.’ … It’s safe to say Pawlenty is the first potential presidential candidate to come to Iowa and quote a Will Farrell [sic] movie. Pawlenty turned to ‘Talledega Nights’ when introducing his wife, Mary: ‘Thank you, Lord, for my red-hot, smokin’ wife.’ … I thought it was funny, but some might take potshots at that brand of humor. … He didn’t knock Iowa Republicans’ socks off, but he’ll likely find plenty willing to look him over the next time he ventures across the border.”

Obradovich also noted: “He attended a gathering at Des Moines businessman Doug Reichardt’s house before the GOP dinner and stayed until the bitter end of the evening event. (Believe me, people noticed.)”

That gibes with what Jason Hancock observed at the dinner itself, which he covered for the Minnesota Independent’s sister site, the Iowa Independent: Pawlenty stayed through the gubernatorial candidates’ speeches that followed his.

But Norwegianity notes that the Register didn’t include Pawlenty in its trio of pictured “heavy hitters” who visited Iowa over the weekend.

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza headlines a post this morning at The Fix this way: “Pawlenty’s national forays show need for polish.” But he’s talking about T-Paw’s dalliance in the New York State special congressional election, not the Iowa appearance.

But what Cillizza sees as a gaffe — Pawlenty’s dissing of Sen. Olympia Snowe — Kathryn Jean Lopez at the National Review’s The Corner views as possibly successful overture to Iowa conservatives: “At least as an Iowa strategy, I’m not sure that’s was [sic] a fumble.”

Iowa’s Democratic chairman, Michael Kiernan, attacked T-Paw’s boasts about not raising taxes, saying Pawlenty “has increased ‘fees’ by hundreds of millions of dollars while at the same time putting the state in a terrible economic bind.”

Powerline’s John Hinderaker concludes that “Pawlenty and Mitt Romney are far and away the Republicans’ best Presidential prospects for 2012.”

Pawlenty didn’t miss while hunting deer in northern Minnesota earlier in the day on Saturday, but the buck was only injured and got away. That supplied another gag in his Iowa speech about a “shoot-and-release” program for deer, but Ken Korczak of Kittson County wasn’t laughing: “Governor, if you don’t mind, a note from a lifetime northern Minnesotaner: Real men track and butcher their own deer.” But instead, Korczak surmises, “he needed to be in Iowa for a major speech to Republican activists.”