WATERLOO, Iowa — The two fastest-rising stars in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination worked to broaden their appeal Sunday in Iowa.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, fresh off her win in a closely watched straw vote, portrayed herself as a mainstream Midwesterner. Newcomer Rick Perry introduced himself as a common-sense executive focused on jobs.
While both candidates have strong ties to the evangelical wing of the party and are popular with upstart Tea Party supporters, they told activists at the Black Hawk County GOP’s Lincoln Day dinner that they have credibility on the party’s leading priority: jobs.
“I happen to think the biggest issue facing this country is that we are facing economic turmoil, and if we don’t have a president that doesn’t get this country working, we’re in trouble,” the Texas governor told about 300 Republicans in the Electric Park Ballroom. “And I’ve got a track record.”
Bachmann touted her experience running her family’s business in Minnesota. “We know how to build from scratch, putting capital together and starting a business from scratch and building it up so that we can actually offer jobs to people,” she told reporters.
A segment of the GOP’s establishment and economic conservatives have sat on the sidelines in the early months of the race, waiting for an alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Support for Romney, positioning himself as the Republican most associated with job creation, has been muted in some parts of the GOP primary electorate.
Perry was mobbed by dozens of reporters for his first appearance as a candidate.
“It’s going to be a big time,” Perry told Cedar Falls Republican Jeanie Balthazor.
It was a sharp contrast to another part of the room, where presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, moved through the crowd with less commotion.
In the 24 hours between Perry’s entering the race in a Charleston, S.C., speech, and his arrival in Iowa, the ground shifted profoundly.
Bachmann beat home-state rival Tim Pawlenty by more than 2-to-1 in the Iowa straw poll, a test of caucus campaign strength. Pawlenty, a former two-term Minnesota governor, had put all his chips on a strong showing in the poll. But his distant third-place finish, behind U.S Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, led Pawlenty to quit the race Sunday morning.
Bachmann rose sharply to the top of Iowa polls since launching her campaign in June and made an aggressive push for straw poll support with evangelical pastors and Christian home-school backers.
Bachmann waited on her bus while Perry spoke at a Waterloo gathering Sunday and then entered the hall to her trademark theme, Elvis Presley’s version of “Promised Land.”
A vocal opponent of the recent deal reached in Congress to raise the national debt ceiling, Bachmann sought to broaden her appeal to include budget hawks and noted her Tea Party backing to project herself as appealing to a range of voters.
“It’s a movement coming together. It’s a movement of social conservatives, a movement of fiscal conservatives, particularly on the debt-ceiling issue,” she said.
But she also stressed her opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage, issues Perry did not touch in his remarks. “Without social conservatives it will be very difficult to beat Barack Obama in 2012,” Bachmann said.
On Sunday, Gallup’s daily tracking poll had President Barack Obama’s approval rating at 39 percent, his lowest in more than a year.
Perry, who headlined a prayer rally of more than 30,000 born-again Christians in Houston this month, is focusing during his Iowa introduction on the party establishment and the business community.
Perry is seen as an establishment candidate who could be attractive to Pawlenty backers.
He plans to hold private meetings with GOP elected officials as he travels around the state today and Tuesday in a motor coach splashed with his name and the slogan “Get America working again.”
