As was reported last night, Texas Governor Rick Perry has begun making phone calls to Iowa activists and other longtime Iowa politicos.  One of the people Perry called was a longtime Linn County activist Joni Scotter.  Calling Scotter has become somewhat of a rite of passage in Iowa presidential politics.  Calling her is just like visiting the Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor in Le Mars or having an event at the Hamburg Inn in Iowa City.

The Des Moines Register reported that Perry tried to contact State Representative and former Iowa GOP Chairman, Stewart Iverson, as well, but got his voicemail.  TheIowaRepublican.com has learned that calls were also placed to other longtime and influential Iowa Republicans.

In addition to Perry making phone calls to key Iowa Republicans, Americans for Rick Perry, a 527 group that has no official ties to Governor Perry himself, is polling likely Iowa caucus goers identifying supporters of Perry in Iowa.  TheIowaRepublican.com participated in the automated survey on Saturday morning.

The questioner said that a number of people are running or may be running for the Republican nomination for president, among them are Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, and Ron Paul.  The person being surveyed then asked whom they would support and the caller then reads the list of candidates.  Perry’s name was once again listed first, so TheIowaRepublican.com pushed the “one” button.

The call then ends with the recorded voice saying that Americans for Rick Perry conducted the call and that someone will be contacting you shortly.  These calls are identical to the automated calls that the Pawlenty campaign conducted earlier this spring.

In addition to the automated survey, American’s for Rick Perry has been hiring staff in Iowa.  As was reported earlier, Craig Schoenfeld, Newt Gingrich’s former Iowa campaign manager, is leading up the effort.  Schoenfeld told TheIowaRepublican.com on Saturday that he has hired four Iowans to work on the Americans for Perry effort in Iowa.

All of hires have connections to Newt Gingrich’s campaign.  Paige Thorson, Ryan Keller, Daniel Weiser, Joe Heuertz will all begin working on the Perry effort on Monday.  Keller and Heuertz both also worked on Brad Zaun’s 3^rd District Congressional campaign in 2012.

The Americans for Perry effort will be interesting to watch in Iowa.  They are staffed and act like any other presidential campaign, yet they don’t have a candidate they can turn people out to see or even introduce to people yet.  Making things even more difficult is that the 527 group can’t have any contact with Perry and his advisors either.

Photo by Joyce Boghosian/www.ericdraperphotography.com