Perry to Make Big Splash on Saturday, Drown out Hype for Straw Poll?

By Lynn Campbell 
From IowaPolitics.com 

DES MOINES — Texas Gov. Rick Perry will make his Iowa debut Sunday in Waterloo, one day after the Ames Straw Poll. 

Perry will appear at the Black Hawk County Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner at the Electric Park Ballroom, the same location where Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann held one of her campaign kickoff events in late June. 

“It was a great boost,” Gregory Tagtow of Waterloo, outreach chairman for the Black Hawk County Republicans, told IowaPolitics.com. “We were hoping because of the closeness to the straw poll to get a presidential candidate or two.” 

The event comes a day after Perry is expected to confirm that he’s running for president during visits Saturday to South Carolina and New Hampshire, according to numerous national media reports. 

Perry’s planned attendance at the Waterloo fundraiser at 4:30 p.m. Sunday came as a surprise to Tagtow, who said the Perry campaign contacted Black Hawk County Republicans Chairman Mac McDonald on Tuesday morning about wanting to attend. Until then, the county party had difficulty getting any presidential candidate to attend. 

“We sent invitations to all the campaigns. We had some responses back; some were busy. Most were concentrating all of their efforts on the straw poll,” Tagtow said. 

Perry supporters present at kickoff of social conservative bus tour 

In a sign of things to come, the Republican presidential candidate who isn’t officially in the race received as much attention as the one who showed up in person for Tuesday’s kickoff of a statewide bus tour by social conservatives. 

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty swooped in at the Iowa Capitol for a brief appearance at the startup of the “Values Voter Bus Tour,” a 1,305-mile, 22-city, four-day bus tour sponsored by three national groups that oppose abortion and gay marriage. 

“There are some on the other side of this debate who snicker or ridicule or make fun of those positions, but know that the people of this country reward and understand those positions,” Pawlenty said. “Every time, for example, the issue of traditional marriage has been put before the voters and the people of this country, they’ve supported traditional marriage.” 

Pawlenty emphasized the need to “win over the hearts and minds” of Iowans and Americans. He touted his record, saying he co-authored the Defense of Marriage Act in Minnesota defining marriage as between a man and a woman, abortions are at “historic lows” in his state and he appointed strict constructionists to the Minnesota Supreme Court. 

But nine people from Americans for Rick Perry wearing burnt-orange T-shirts had a larger presence at the event, and attracted just as much or more media attention. 

The tax-exempt 527 independent organization — organized under a section of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code which allows the group to accept limitless donations and influence the election but forbids it to coordinate with the candidate’s campaign — is based in California and Texas. It is encouraging the Texas governor to run for president and is asking people to choose Perry as their write-in choice at Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll. 

“So if you’re in Iowa and you decide to go on Saturday and you haven’t made up your mind, think strong about voting for Perry, because it will make a huge difference,” said Nate Crain, of Dallas, Texas, the group’s national finance chairman, who said he’s known Perry for 19 years but hasn’t spoken to him in nine months because federal laws prohibit a 527 group from interacting with a candidate. 

Crain said his group wants to gather at least 150 to 250 write-in votes for Perry, and is targeting undecided voters as well as those supporting candidates who aren’t doing well. The Ames Straw Poll at Iowa State University is expected to be attended by thousands; about 14,000 attended last year. 

“Governor Perry is not trying to rain on the Iowa Straw Poll,” Crain said of Perry’s anticipated announcement Saturday. “He’s simply just trying to get the message out, because everybody keeps asking about it. He finally needs to send a signal that he’s going to have the intention to run.” 

Crain said while he's not speaking on behalf of Perry, he bases his statements on the fact that he's known Perry for 19 years and has been a close friend, longtime donor, supporter, fundraiser and campaign operative for the Texas governor, and has served on his "kitchen cabinet" and two inaugural committees. 

"That's just not the kind of thing that he would do ... because he has so much respect for Iowa," Crain said of Perry negatively affecting the Ames Straw Poll. "He needed to come out and he needed to end the speculation. He needed to send the signal of what he was going to do. Finally, the speculation game is over with." 

The Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee in late July decided against including Perry on the straw poll ballot because he was not an official candidate. Tuesday was also the final day for presidential candidates to qualify for Thursday’s Republican presidential debate in Ames, which will be broadcast live on FOX News. 

Opponents emphasize that anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion groups aren’t from Iowa 

The Values Voter Bus Tour is organized by the three nationally prominent, social conservative groups: the National Organization for Marriage, a nonprofit that advocates against gay marriage; Susan B. Anthony List, a nonprofit that advocates against abortion; and the Family Research Council Action's Faith Family Freedom Fund, a political action committee that works to elect "pro-family" candidates. 

The bus tour was similar to one held last year in support of ousting three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous 2009 decision in Varnum v. Brien, which legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. The campaign was successful, and the three justices left the bench at the end of last year. 

Groups that support same-sex marriage did not stage any kind of counter-rally. However, Troy Price, executive director of One Iowa, the state’s largest gay-rights advocacy group, attended Tuesday’s kickoff. 

“I think we saw today just how far out-of-state organizations are willing to go to try to influence politics here in the state,” Price said. “The fact is, this debate about marriage is not about rhetoric, and it’s not about politics. This is about loving, committed couples who want to marry the person that they love. That’s what we’re fighting for.” 

Former state Sen. Jeff Angelo, R-Ames, chairman of Iowa Republicans for Freedom, which supports marriage equality, also emphasized how sponsors of the bus tour aren’t from Iowa. 

"This tour simply displays just how much money out-of-state groups are willing to pump into our state to interfere in our political process,” Angelo said. “There's nothing to be gained for the candidates involved — they are all competing for a slice of a small group of voters whose vote is based on which candidate is most determined to deny Iowans the ability to be treated equally under the law as stated by our Constitution."