I take it you haven't seen the breakdown on the other national polls, which show Perry taking a large plurality of the self-identified Tea Party members, beating Bachmann by 2-1 or more?
Actually I have noticed that, which seems to show that Perry is at least trying. Perry still seems to be getting a leery response from Tea Party organizers. Which is understandable given bloopers like the Gardasil blunder, the philosophical affirmation of New York’s right to call a cat a dog (OK, I mean so called “gay marriage”) which he has belatedly attempted to remedy by signing an orthodox conservative position statement on “gay marriage.”