With Mitt Romney still the GOP presidential frontrunner following Thursday's debate in Iowa, the next big item on Romney's to-do list is figuring out how to deal with the nascent candidacy that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will launch Saturday in South Carolina.
Politico explores the Romney-Perry dynamic at length in an article published Friday morning.
"The Texas governor may present the last best hope of beating Romney, the tenuous but still dent-free frontrunner. … Romney's high command wasn't ready to directly contrast their candidate's record with Perry, but they were happy to begin laying the groundwork for a campaign that will portray the decade-long Texas governor as a career politician running at a moment of maximum skepticism toward politicians.
The Associated Press also provided an analysis on Perry's possible impact on the race, saying the Texas governor may pose the biggest threat to Romney's campaign.
A glimpse of Perry's campaign message can be found in Mike Allen's latest Playbook column for Politico, where Allen includes an excerpt from "a late draft of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential announcement speech to be delivered in Columbia, S.C.
With the support of the national campaign office, you don’t have to ask, ‘Can I ?’ or ‘Should I?’ There’s a clear strategic mission: We have an open checkbook to do what we need to do on the ground,” said Christian Fong, co-chair of Pawlenty’s Iowa campaign.
Fong, whose own run 2010 run for Iowa governor built him a statewide network of activists, called it an “embarrassment of riches” with “no resource constraints.” He said he recently wrote to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who’s directing Pawlenty’s straw poll strategy, asking for additional transportation.
“I said, ‘I need a bus at this parking lot at this time,’ said Fong, who is coordinating the region around his home in Cedar Rapids. “She said, ‘Done, thanks.’”
Starting Thursday, the campaign pulled his ads to strategically redirect money toward getting out the vote at Ames.
The Pawlenty campaign is buying straw poll tickets for its supporters and will have campaign T-shirts waiting on the buses that are hitting every major metropolitan region, said activists. Some buses have been directed to stop in the more rural areas of the state on the way to Ames to pick up additional supporters.
The campaign will also be running continuous shuttles between Ankeny and Ames, which is about a 30-minute drive, for those who want to vote and leave right away. Another Pawlenty shuttle will be picking Iowans up from a Wal-Mart parking lot a few miles from Ames, helping them to skip the hassles of finding parking and crowds.
With the largest paid campaign staff in Iowa and the longest list of endorsements from members of the state GOP, political observers agree Pawlenty has the organizational upper hand.
They’re also heavy on the campaign gear.
In an email to supporters on Monday, Pawlenty’s campaign manager Nick Ayers offered “one-of-a-kind prizes” — like signed hockey jerseys and copies of Pawlenty’s autobiography — in exchange for placing phone calls on the candidate’s behalf. And for the past week, volunteers and paid staffers have been working the phones, reminding Iowans to attend the straw poll — as many as three times a week.
“The only calls I’ve gotten from anyone else have been automated robocalls, quick surveys,” said Polk County GOP Chair David Funk, who is remaining neutral this presidential cycle. “With Pawlenty, they’re real people that are calling. That’s effective boots on the ground.”
And Pawlenty’s even been hitting the phone himself, dialing up activists to get personal pledges of support between stump stops.
“He’s the one candidate right now putting an emphasis on the college vote,” said Iowa State College Republicans member Adam Meinecke, who got a surprise call from the governor on Sunday and will support him in the straw poll.
Hamilton County GOP chair Mark Greenfield said he’s surprised that with such a methodical operation isn’t helping Pawlenty in the polls.
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