Rick Perry Adding Help for Final Days in Iowa
Rick Perry meets with people in a West Des Moines neighborhood Saturday. Photo by Bob Deammrich/Texas Tribune for KUT NewsAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It’s the last day on the campaign bus for Texas Governor Rick Perry before tomorrow’s Iowa caucuses. He’ll make several stops today, ending up in Perry, Iowa for a big final rally.
The whole Perry clan was on the tour over the weekend. The First Family of Texas made appearances at several stops, with Anita Perry introducing her husband.
“I’m concerned about our children. We need to get America back working again and I think he’s the man that can do that,” the First Lady said before he husband spoke to a crowd in Boone, Iowa.
Joining the Perry family this weekend in Des Moines were about 350 volunteers and supporters. The “Texas Strike Force” went to work immediately, make phone calls and hitting neighborhoods to organize caucus goers for Tuesday night. Perry told reporters the last few days are just about continuing to work hard.
The governor took the streets himself for a few minutes Saturday. Making a surprise visit to a West Des Moines precinct chair to thank him for his help. “Surprise! Rick Perry how are you? It’s just us and a few or our friends,” Perry said as he knocked on doors in the neighborhood.
He walked around shaking hands, signing autographs and taking pictures.
“We’re just gonna keep knocking on doors, going to towns, talking to people,” Perry said, “sharing our message about the outsider that’s going to go to Washington, D.C. and straighten this country out.”
You can see the affects of the Perry bus tour in the last few stops. Crowds are larger. So is the press coverage. And many of the voters, like Fort Dodge residents Carrie Suhrbier and Ian Bartholomew, are leaving with a new favorite.
“I came with lukewarm emotions but he’s convinced me,” said Fort Dodge resident Carrie Suhrbier
“I like his word, I like his look, I like his wife. He’s got a good family and I think he’s the man,” Ian Bartholomew said.
The Perry campaign was hoping for another boost over the weekend, an improved standing in the final caucus poll from the Des Moines Register. The poll did have Perry nearly doubling his support from the newspaper’s previous survey. And it showed the race was tightening with the difference between 3rd and 5th place just 4 points. But it also still had Perry sitting in 5th place.
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