Pawlenty and Romney granted final extensions to disclose financial assets

News junkies, journalists and opposition researchers learned today they will have to wait until August to get their hands on financial disclosure documents from Republican presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney.

The Federal Election Commission awarded both candidates second 45-day extensions to turn in their paperwork.

All candidates for federal office must release information about their assets, investments, credit lines and more to the FEC within 30 days of filing their paperwork for candidacy. Pawlenty and Romney now have until August 15 and August 12, respectively, to produce the information.

Candidates are awarded only two extensions, so the August deadlines are firm for both.

Romney's previous financial disclosure from his presidential run in 2007 and 2008 revealed the former Massachusetts governor owned assets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. This will be the first time Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who often discusses his working-class roots on the campaign trail, will undergo a thorough public airing of his finances. He hasn't had to reveal them previously due to Minnesota's lax disclosure requirements.

(Photo of Pawlenty and Romney: Craig Lassig/AP)