Gov. Tim Pawlenty has spoken to crowds in Arkansas, Colorado, California, Illinois, Florida, New Jersey and Virginia in recent months.

On Thursday, it was New Ulm.

The Republican governor’s nationwide travel has reinforced the widespread belief that he’s serious about running for president. And that prospect probably added a bit of energy to the meeting at the New Ulm Country Club, which attracted nearly 100 area business owners and other Chamber of Commerce members.

“Of course it does,” said state Rep. Paul Torkelson, who helped organize Thursday’s event at the request of the governor’s office. “And I’m thrilled that we have the governor of Minnesota being considered a potential presidential candidate. ... I hope he pursues it full tilt.”

The purpose of the meeting, dubbed a Job Growth Summit, was to hear the opinions and ideas of area business people on ways to improve Minnesota’s business climate, said Torkelson, R-St. James. So the discussion was intended to focus on state issues and on the 2010 legislative session, which begins in February.

But the potential national ambitions of Pawlenty, who announced in June he wouldn’t be seeking a third term as governor, were on the minds of the people in the crowd.

A Sleepy Eye businesswoman captured both aspects of the 75-minute meeting in her comments. She talked about how government agencies in Minnesota seem to still be growing even as private businesses struggle to survive.

“If I’m always competing against the government, the best thing I can do is go work for the government,” she said. “Unless you can promise, when you’re president in Washington ... ”

The rest of her comment was drowned out by the resulting applause.

Pawlenty didn’t specifically address his interest in seeking the Republican nomination for president. After the meeting, he continued his habit of not even acknowledging he’s thinking about running — even though a key adviser, former Minnesota Congressman Vin Weber, said recently that Pawlenty is carefully considering a run.

Many of the governor’s comments Thursday involved warnings and criticism of entitlement programs that promise more in payments in coming decades than can be met, of lawmakers and public employees wedded to the status quo, of Democrats who would stifle businesses with rising taxes and onerous regulations.

Pawlenty also talked about reforming health care, saying costs won’t be contained if people don’t feel any financial impact from the choices they make when getting health-care services. He compared it to what would happen if he told everyone at the meeting to stop on their way home at a local store, pick out a television and have the store send the bill to the governor’s mansion.

“How many of you would show up at your home with a 12-inch black and white?” Pawlenty wondered.

After hearing Pawlenty’s comments, Torkelson made a smiling observation.

“Many of these issues you talk about have some national scope to them and that’s very interesting,” Torkelson said.