Free Republic

December 31, 2011TRENDING: Perry bets Iowa fortunes on robust ground game CNN Political Reporter Peter Hamby Boone, Iowa (CNN)...with public and internal polling from various campaigns showing the fight for third place to be a fluid one between Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Perry, a robust organization can mean the difference between a ticket home and a ticket to New Hampshire. There are 1,774 Republican caucus precincts around the state, 900 of which are combined and held at the same location. As of Friday, the Texas governor had signed up 1,500 precinct leaders in Iowa, a source inside the Perry...

Rick Perry’s Campaign Approach Is Hitting All the Right Notes Seth Mandel July 26, 2011 A pro-Rick Perry group is taking advantage of a new rule in the Iowa straw poll that allows voters to write in a candidate. GrowPAC will air radio ads in Iowa urging voters to write in Perry’s name in the Ames straw poll next month. The move would–if the ad works–help Perry in two ways: it would reveal public support for Perry without having to meet expectations, as he would if his name were officially on the ballot, and it will drain support from Perry’s...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is exploring a run for president in a behind-the-scenes effort to set up a shadow campaign that stretches from Austin to New Hampshire to Miami. Perry’s potential bid is more of a whisper campaign than a presidential campaign at the moment, but he’s aggressively courting fundraisers and political consultants – even if they’re allied with other candidates. [snip] This week, Perry is meeting with delegations from Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas and has recently travelled to California and Aspen, Colo. in well-publicized visits that are all preludes to a nationwide campaign. Perry has already fired up rank-and-file...