COLLINSVILLE • Hours after President Barack Obama released his long-form Hawaiian birth certificate to silence stubborn doubts by some about his citizenship Wednesday, GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty implied criticism at fellow Republicans who have kept the issue alive.

"There was never any evidence to suggest he wasn't born here,'' Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, said after giving a keynote speech to a luncheon gathering of Metro East Republican activists here. "Before someone makes an allegation, they should have evidence.''

During an otherwise highly critical speech slamming Obama's economic and tax policies to about 300 GOP organizers at Collinsville's Gateway Center, Pawlenty referenced the "birther'' controvery just once, as a partisan joke.

"I don't question the president's birth certificate,'' he told the crowd. " . . . But when I look at his policies, I do question what planet he's from.''

Pawlenty hasn't officially announced, but is widely considered a likely GOP primary candidate. He is viewed, along with Massachusetts ex-Gov. Mitt Romney, as one of the more serious likely candidates, in part because he's steered clear of the birther issue that real estate mogul Donald Trump and others have embraced.

During Pawlenty's speech, he criticized Wall Street and corporate welfare, what he termed "special deals for some.''

But when asked after the speech about ethanol subsidies—which have come under fired from some fiscal conservatives, but are considered crucial in Iowa, where Pawlenty's campaign could live or die—he hedged.

"We can't just pull the rug out from under the industry,'' he said. "There are going to have to be some changes, but we have to be fair-minded about it.''