DES MOINES, IOWA -Like every other Republican presidential candidate before him, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been in constant communication with the Iowa Republican Party for weeks in preparation for a possible presidential run. That’s why Iowa officials were surprised to learn — second-hand — that Perry is expected to announce whether he’s entering the Republican presidential race at an event in Charleston, S.C., on Saturday, the same day as the Iowa GOP’s paramount fundraising event, the Ames straw poll.
News of Perry’s plans sent shockwaves through the presidential field, with every news channel and political junkie contemplating all of the ramifications of Perry’s announcement for turnout at the straw poll.
But the Iowa Republicans say they’re confident that Perry’s announcement won’t detract from their influential straw poll, which in 2007 drew 14,000 activists, major donors and others to the small college town 35 miles north of Des Moines. Perry supporters in Iowa are reminding straw poll participants that there’s a spot on the ballot in which they can write in Perry’s name.
“It’s still going to be a solid measuring stick of the people currently in the race,” said Casey Mills, spokesman for the Iowa GOP said of the poll, noting that 793 reporters have requested credentials for the event so far.
“The straw poll — and the organizational network that candidates have to build leading up to it — has enormous significance on the Iowa caucuses and nothing can take away from that significance,” he said.
Meanwhile, Perry is reassuring Iowa officials that he will make the Hawkeye State a central part of his presidential campaign, which the Texas governor is expected to officially launch within the next week.
Perry plans to spend three days in Iowa beginning with a Sunday stop in Waterloo, the hometown of Tea Party darling and Iowa frontrunner Michele Bachmann, according to an official with knowledge of the governor’s schedule.
Bachmann, whom strategists say has the most to lose if Perry enters the race, announced on Tuesday that she will launch a bus tour in South Carolina the morning after Perry appears in Waterloo.
Because of the write-in provision on the ballot, the straw poll could be an early test of Perry’s appeal to Bachmann’s supporters, even though Perry isn’t officially competing in the event.
Iowa officials will release vote counts on the write-in votes along with the rest of the candidates shortly after the straw poll voting closes Saturday.
