Tim Pawlenty raised just more than $4 million in the second quarter, a number expected to be easily surpassed by GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney and possibly others in the 2012 field.

“Gov. Pawlenty will report that his campaign has raised about $4.2 million and begins the third quarter with more available cash on hand than the Republicans who won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary had in July 2007,” said Alex Conant, the former Minnesota governor’s spokesman.

Fundraising reports are quarterly pictures of strength and momentum, and Pawlenty’s total will be based relative to that of his current competitors, not on candidates past.

The Romney campaign indicated its quarterly fundraising will come in somewhere under $20 million. Meanwhile, political observers will now anxiously await Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) three-month haul.

Bachmann, who shares a home state with Pawlenty, is known as one of the strongest fundraisers in the House and has a national network of donors. She and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman entered the race only in the last month.