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Nancy Smith

Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry: Don't Write That Acceptance Speech Just Yet

August 28, 2011 - 6:00pm

Michele Bachmann, Florida's own weekend tropical disturbance, showed Republicans she's not about to let Texas Gov. Rick Perry blow her out to sea.

After a weekend of whirling through the tea party heart of Florida, the Minnesota congresswoman is raising the conservative bar, leading with her chin on controversial issues and elevating her game by reaching out hard and far to independents and the disenchanted left. She may not have touched the indies or the unhappy semi-libs yet, but she's getting closer.

Make no mistake, Michele Bachmann wants to be president of the United States -- and I mean she's fixed on it like iron to a lodestone.

Those driving her campaign say she is as convinced as they are that the road to the Oval Office runs through Florida.

Sean Farrell, a Bachmann campaign foreman whose job it is to tie up his candidate's advance Florida itinerary, said she's working the state with great intensity.

"I think there's a teleprompter running 24-7 in her head saying, 'You can beat him, you can beat him."

Who is 'him'? I asked.

"It's anybody it needs to be. It was Romney. It was Pawlenty. It was Ron Paul. But right now," Farrell said,"... right this very minute it's Rick Perry. And you know what? We think if there is a gap, we're going to close it. We think Perry is taking Florida for granted, giving it a light buff while he concentrates his polish in other arenas. Bachmann meanwhile is beating the state like a drum and growing her following here."

Throughout the weekend Bachmann wore her heart on her sleeve, leaving nobody guessing where she stands on the issues.

Immigration? Illegals out.

Those who want to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling? They're "radical extremists."

Environmental Protection Agency? "We will turn out the lights and well lock the doors, she said to a burst of applause in Poinciana.

In Orlando Saturday she delivered an impassioned speech laced with biblical references to the Florida Family Policy Councils Policy Awards Dinner. In it she talked about her parents' divorce, her mother's subsequent poverty and their refusal to seek public assistance. She described her personal conversion to Christianity and its importance in her life. And she affirmed her strong pro-life, pro-family stance.

Florida political consultants claim none of this is likely to hurt Bachmann among the GOP primary electorate, in which evangelicals and Catholics make up 30 to 40 percent.

But these questions remain: Has the time come for Bachmann's hard-right, fiscally and socially stringent campaign? God knows, it's been percolating for the last two presidential election cycles. Or will her views ultimately scare more moderate Republicans? Will they hit a wall with GOP strategists who want to back the candidate with the greatest ability to scoop up independents and Democrats in the general election?

Rick Perry, on the other hand, gets points because he's the "known quantity" in the presidential race. "Rick has been governor of Texas long enough for voters to know what he's about," Dallas political strategist Furman Wise told me. "He's the known quantity, an exciting but a less scary bet."

Here's where I part company with Wise and at least half a dozen Republican wags I saw drawing Bachmann-Perry comparisons on TV this weekend. All of them certified Perry as -- OK, a right-winger maybe, but -- the known antidote for a volatile flamethrower like Bachmann.

I beg to differ.

Bachmann is far the better known quantity. I didn't say she's the better quantity, understand, I'm still window shopping. But listen to her. She doesn't waffle. She's minimized her once-trademark "misspeaks." And -- with the exception of that first-she-hates-'em-now-she-loves-'em stance on farm subsidies -- she doesn't vary her positions from stump to stump. With the Minnesota congresswoman, pick an issue, think extreme right clear down the line and you're there -- the Bachmann platform.

Perry, however, has his pros and cons as a known quantity, or as any quantity -- the connest being that he's a former Democrat. He was actually Al Gores Texas campaign manager in the 1988 presidential primaries. So, you have to ask yourself, how conservative could a former Al Gore worker be? (To be fair, Perry did switch parties in 1990.)

Perry's top pro? As governor, he led Texas to the creation of 37 percent (close to 50 percent in some reports) of all the new jobs in the whole of the United States over the last two years.

And the man is a dynamic speaker, a prolific fundraiser, a former Air Force pilot and officer. He also accomplished major tort reform, particularly in the area of medical malpractice.

But he's also a Texan. Some pollsters say it's still too soon after George W. Bush for a Texan to win the White House again.

And Perry once proposed legislation for something called the Trans-Texas Corridor, which would have involved the building of a super highway between Mexico and Canada. It would have allowed trucks from Mexico to easily cross into and travel up and down the U.S. In the end, he did back off the proposal, which a slew of critics called "pro open borders." To this day, many think of Perry as soft on illegal immigration.

Another bone of contention here and there: In 2007, Perry issued an executive order making Texas the first state in the country requiring all sixth-grade girls to receive the three-shot vaccination series known as Gardasil, which supposedly guards against the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most commonly transmitted sexual disease in the U.S. It was opposed in Texas in a big way, and many conservatives were shocked he signed the order.

Certainly Perry is on top in all recent national polls, and many state surveys, too. Mitt Romney is close but fading. The up-and-comer in the GOP race is the fighter, Michele Bachmann. Watch for her. She's improving in virtually every category of campaigning. Watching her closely this past weekend, I'll be mighty surprised if she doesn't hang around to give Perry major fits.

This is Nancy Smith's opinion column. Reach Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
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