AMES, IOWA - Texas Gov. Rick Perry wasn't on stage at Thursday night's GOP debate at Iowa State University, but his orange-clad supporters in their Longhorns' T-shirts are making his presence felt in the state.
That could be trouble for Minnesota's two presidential hopefuls. Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty tried to boost their campaigns by trading barbs during the televised debate, but Perry is about to land hard in the presidential race, with a same-day announcement that could instantly dull the glow of whoever wins Saturday's straw poll.
"He's from Texas, and he's a larger-than-life governor," said Ryan Rhodes, who organized a recent Tea Party bus tour through Iowa that included Bachmann.
As the longest-serving governor in Texas history, Perry, 61, brings the executive credentials that Pawlenty has used to set himself apart from Bachmann. An unabashed evangelical Christian who last week hosted a 30,000-person prayer rally in Houston, Perry also brings the social conservative passion that has marked Bachmann's run.
In true Texas style, Perry plans to take the fight right to his rivals, with a Sunday visit to Bachmann's childhood home of Waterloo. A late entry who has never run a national campaign before, Perry is seen as someone able to work both sides of the party divide: Once thought as a moderate GOP conservative in the mold of former President George W. Bush, Perry has gone Tea Party in recent years.
When I did give the money, it was to go to session with them, and my primary motivation was to get a feel for them," Bialek, a retiree from Woodside, Calif., told OpenSecrets Blog. "I was trying to find out if I wanted to support them."
He is far from the only individual who has donated to both of the former governors.
At least 66 individuals have contributed to both campaigns through the second quarter of 2011, new research by the Center for Responsive Politics shows. And about half of those donors gave $2,500 or more to both men.
Some of the people making these double contributions are prominent Republican donors who have had a heavy hand in previous Republican campaigns.
For instance, Texas billionaires Bob Perry and Harold Simmons, along with both of their wives, have given $5,000 a piece to Pawlenty and $2,500 a piece to Romney, according to the Center's research. The Simmonses have also donated $2,500 a piece to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).
Both Simmons and Perry, seven years ago, gave generously to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the 527 committee that criticized Democrat John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. And last year, they each gave seven-figure sums to American Crossroads, the new conservative super PAC that invested heavily in advertisements in numerous congressional races.
Overall, at least 325 individuals who donated $200 or more during the first six months of 2011 contributed to multiple presidential candidates, a new analysis by the Center shows. Two hundred dollars is the threshold for itemized disclosure under federal law.
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