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HUMBOLDT, Iowa -- Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he'll wait until Texas Gov. Rick Perry gets into the presidential race before he'll start comparing records.

In a session with reporters after visiting a materials-handling plant here on Tuesday, Pawlenty called Perry a friend and said he would welcome him into the race. Although Pawlenty has been running on his record as governor and telling voters that he achieved the best results of any of the candidates seeking the GOP nomination, he would not say why his record would trump Perry’s should the Texan enter the race next week as expected. Republican analysts believe Perry would be a key player in Iowa and could threaten Pawlenty's chances of winning the state's caucuses early next year.

“I know Rick Perry. I respect him. I like him,” Pawlenty said. “We’ve traveled together internationally. For Texas, he did a really positive job for his state. But as he gets into the race, like all of us, there will be the initial announcement opportunity, and after that, everybody’s record gets scrutinized. Everybody’s got to go through the interviews and get cross-examined and all the other articles come out.”

He continued, “But my candidacy, my message, doesn’t rise or fall as to whether somebody else does or doesn’t get in the race. It’s a message of saying: In Minnesota, we turned a very liberal place into something more common-sense and conservative. And I’ve done all these things we can get done for the country.”

Pawlenty seemed to suggest that it was more difficult for him to get things done in Minnesota, a blue state, than it has been for Perry in Texas, a red state.

In fact, at an event earlier in the day at a Boone public library, a voter asked Pawlenty how he would get his agenda through a Democratic Congress if elected, and he pointed to his eight years as governor of Minnesota as the example.

The candidate said he didn’t do much to charm the Democrats in the Democratic-led legislature and instead used vetoes and executive authority to achieve much of what he wanted done.

“A lot of it was just putting the chin strap on and have at it,” he said.

At that event, he also asserted that many of his rivals for the nomination will employ talking points similar to his, and said Iowans have a key role in choosing the best one. Pawlenty pointed to a slogan on his campaign poster -- “Results, Not Rhetoric” -- and suggested that he is the best choice based on his gubernatorial record.

But asked later by a reporter how, using that measure, he could top Perry -- whose state boasts the best job growth in the nation since the end of the recession -- Pawlenty punted.

"We’ll let him get in the race first, and then we’ll have the debate. But you know, as he gets into the race -- we certainly welcome into the race. He’s a friend. I think he’ll bring a lot to the debate -- and I look forward to having that debate with him."