Campaign for Iowa in final week

Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa

An Iowa caucus campaign that has cycled through several Republican presidential front-runners entered its final week Monday, as unpredictable as the day conservatives began competing to emerge as Mitt Romney’s chief rival.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, released a new television commercial for the state in which he cited a “moral imperative for America to stop spending more money than we take in. It’s killing jobs,” he said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry countered with an advertisement that said four of his rivals combined — none of them Romney — have served 63 years in Congress, “leaving us with debt, earmarks and bailouts.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who has invested more time in Iowa than any other contender, countered that “most Americans now believe that a little bit of experience going into a job like president is probably a good thing.”

Santorum was the only presidential candidate in the state during the day.

That changes today, with bus tours planned by Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, all eager to energize their existing supporters and attract new ones.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul arrives Wednesday. Recent polls suggest he is peaking as caucus day approaches, a rise that has him tied with Romney or even ahead, and drawing more scrutiny for his views.

The result figures to be a short but intense stretch of campaigning through small towns and even smaller towns, the sort of one-on-one politicking that largely has vanished in the electronic age.

Failing that, it will pay tribute to the types of cuisine that prosper in early 21st century America.

The Perry bus will belly up to Doughy Joey’s in Waterloo and to the Fainting Goat in Waverly, an establishment whose website says: “After 10 p.m., we are the type of place your mothers warned you about.” Perry also will visit a vineyard and winery in Carroll.

Bachmann will make an early-winter stop at a Dairy Queen, as well as Pizza Ranch establishments in Harlan, Red Oak and Atlantic, three localities with a combined population of 17,282.

It’s not all about the food, though.

Perry has a stop arranged at the Glenn Miller Museum in Clarinda, population 5,301, where the great bandleader was born.

The Texas governor also has a distinction that none of his rivals can boast, a town that shares his name. Thus, Perry will visit Perry.

There were signs of strategic shifts as candidates struggled to stand out in advance of the straw poll next week that inaugurates the round of primaries and caucuses that will pick a nominee to oppose President Barack Obama next fall.