Has Rick Perry proved he's a better campaigner than Michele Bachmann?
Michele Bachmann had a pretty good weekend, if you haven鈥檛 heard. The Minnesota congresswoman won the GOP straw poll in Ames, Iowa 鈥� solidifying her position as a top tier candidate for the Republican nomination.
Iowa is a 鈥渢hreshold test鈥� for conservatives such as Representative Bachmann, in his FiveThirtyEight blog. It鈥檚 necessary that they do well there, though a good performance may not be sufficient to push them over the top.
Now Bachmann has to be considered the favorite to win the Iowa caucuses early next year, according to Mr. Silver.
鈥淪he has cleared her first hurdle with aplomb,鈥� he writes.
But here鈥檚 a question political experts all over Washington are asking this morning: In recent days has Texas Gov. Rick Perry proved he鈥檚 a more adept campaigner than the fiery Bachmann?
Partly this discussion stems from Governor Perry鈥檚 smooth appearance Sunday evening in Bachmann鈥檚 home town. At the Black Hawk County GOP鈥檚 Lincoln Day Dinner he arrived early, went table to table around the room for affable meet-and-greet, and then spoke strongly. Wisely, he paid court to Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican icon who was in the audience.
Bachmann was there too 鈥� she was not about to cede her home turf of Waterloo, Iowa, without a fight. But she stayed in her bus until it was time for her to take the stage, according to reporters who were there. After an initial introduction by a local official, she was still nowhere to be found, according to Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin of Politico. It took a second introduction to get her up to the microphone.
鈥淏y the time she made her big entrance to bright lights and blaring music, the crowd seemed puzzled,鈥�
But this single incident isn鈥檛 the only thing that鈥檚 created a buzz about Perry鈥檚 perceived abilities on the stump.
Perry鈥檚 yes-I鈥檓-running speech on Saturday at a gathering organized by the conservative blog RedState went off without a hitch, according to RedState editor Eric Erickson.
Perry鈥檚 campaign team is operating with the polish of a general election operation, according to Mr. Erickson, pulling off such difficult stunts as smuggling the college roommates of Perry and his wife into the hall without the candidate finding out.
鈥淲hile many of the campaigns have been going for a while and are still struggling to get the look and feel of a presidential campaign, Perry鈥檚 team has it already,鈥� .
Over the past seven days, 鈥淢ichele Bachmann鈥� has been the most-searched candidate name on Yahoo!, according to information provided by the search giant.
But 鈥淩ick Perry鈥� is number two, and the totals are close. Searches for 鈥淩ick Perry biography鈥� have gone up 824 percent over the last week, says Yahoo!.
