After becoming the latest entrant in the 2012 Republican presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry shared a stage with Rep. Michelle Bachmann, winner of the Iowa Straw Poll, at the Black Hawk County Lincoln Day Dinner.
It wasn’t even a close contest in comparison. Perry took it to Bachmann and out-shined her in every capacity.
But the contrast that may lift Perry, and undermine Bachmann, in their high-stakes battle for Iowa had less to do with what they said than how they said it — and what they did before and after speaking.
Perry arrived early, as did former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. The Texas governor let a media throng grow and dissolve before working his way across the room to sit at table after table, shake hand after hand, pose for photographs and listen politely to a windy Abraham Lincoln impersonator, paying respect to a state that expects candidates, no matter their fame, to be accessible.
But Bachmann campaigned like a celebrity. And the event highlighted the brittle, presidential-style cocoon that has become her campaign’s signature: a routine of late entries, unexplained absences, quick exits, sharp-elbowed handlers with matching lapel pins, and pre-selected questioners.
The stakes could not be higher for America’s future in 2012. The country cannot afford four more years of Our Lord and Savior Barack Hussein Obama. The last time we were at a crossroads like this was in 1980. Then we had President Malaise. Now we have President Downgrade. To rewrite the line from the theme from All In The Family … Mister, we could use a man like Ronald Reagan again.
Staying with paraphrasing … we will now paraphrase Lord Bentsen: I knew Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was my President. And Mitt Romney,you’re no Ronald Reagan.
But Rick Perry could have the same star power that can merge the Tea Party/Reagan Conservative wing of the Republican Party with the GOP Establishment.
There’s no way I could imagine Ronaldus Magnus campaigning in the Bachmann style. Pre-selected questioners? How Obamaesque. She came in late, didn’t eat dinner with the attendees and spent little time interacting with the people. Compare that with this description of Perry:
Perry, by contrast, didn’t have to explain to anyone that he knows to campaign in Iowa.
Making his debut in the first-in-the-nation state, the Texan parried questions from reporters in between chatting with attendees about topics ranging from Iowa farms to just how much Austin has grown in recent years.
Activists came away impressed both with his stump speech – which, unlike that of Bachmann, was followed by a question-and-answer session with the crowd – and his warmth.
Make no doubt about it: the outcome of the 2012 presidential election will come down to getting the GOP base and the Tea Party fired up. You know ACORN will be out in force with voter fraud. You know the unionistas and the Black Panthers — Eric Holder’s “people” — will be out beating up conservatives and practicing intimidation tactics.
There are only two candidates that can fire up the necessary people: Sarah Palin, obviously, is one. Rick Perry is the other. Both have star power. By contrast, Mitt Romney is a wet blanket. Romney is clearly the better-looking John McCain of 2012, the guy the media and the GOP Beltway Elite wants running against The Anointed One.
Unless Palin gets into the race — which I am beginning to doubt she will because she has bigger star power helping conservative candidates all over the country — Rick Perry is The Man.
