What happened in Waterloo last night at the Black Hawk County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner?

First heard there were problems via a phone call from a good friend at the event who said any good will Bachman had when she first came to Iowa was fast going out the window over a period of time capped off  by last night.  Seems Michelle Bachmann instead of greeting the people at the dinner and sitting down talking to them, preferred to stay in her bus in front of the Ramada Inn across the street.  After all, they had to change the lightbulbs before her grand entrance which was a flop.  She didn't even come out on stage when first announced and then came out to Elvis music for her entrance which according to my source left a lot in the audience cold.  This is Iowa not Hollywood I was told.

The fact that she refused to be in the room when Rick Santorum and Rick Perry spoke says a lot about her and it is not good.  We also learned she has a list of reporters on a card she calls on and if you are not on the list, then forget it.  Her staff plants questions in the audience at her events and only those people are called upon.  Romney replay from 2008 following the lead of the Democrats.  Rick Perry last night took impromptu questions from the audience.  It wasn't planned as there were no microphones for the people asking questions.

The rhetoric from the media and some candidate supporters that Perry was dissing Iowa by not being in the Straw Poll was bogus.  He wanted to buy a booth but the people in the charge of the straw poll wouldn't allow it and wouldn't put him on the ballot so he chose to go to the Red State Gathering to make his announcement he was running for President.  Even then Governor Perry received 719 write-in votes in the Ames Straw Poll.  Last night proved that the Texas Governor who was raised in very rural West Texas connects to the Iowa Farmers.  This former Gold Star 4-H member and Eagle Scout is what rural America is all about.  My brother and I were both in 4-H and my three children were also 4-H members.  That is how you grow up in rural America.

I laughed when Gov Perry talked about the churches in his town -- a Methodist and a Baptist.  We had three in our small town within a block of each other when I grew up -- Church of the Brethren, Congregational Christian, and Presbyterian, but then we had around 1,500 people in our small town which was a metropolis compared to Paint Creek.  I graduated with 62 in my class so we were huge compared to Paint Creek and we had a zip code.  Paint Creek is similar to the size of the town where our Mom grew up. The values you get growing up in rural America stay with you during your life and get stronger as you older.  The rural background of the West Texan was on display last night as he sat and talked crops and animals with the Iowa farmers of that area.

These clips from the Washington Examiner tell a short version of what happened last night and what has been happening at the Iowa State Fair:

Iowa: Texas Gov. Rick Perry out shined Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., at the Black Hawk County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner, Sunday night. Perry arrived early, worked the crowd, and was accessible to everyone in the room. Bachmann “campaigned like a celebrity,” according to Politico, staying in her bus until she had already been introduced twice on stage. “She kept us waiting, she was not here mixing – then she was talking about what great evening it was. How do you know? You just got here,” Karen Vanderkrol, of Hudson, Iowa, told Politico, “She can say she’s real and part of the people, but that’s not what we do.” 

Then we have the Palin controversy with Bachmann which has been rumored for sometime:

Palin: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her aides are upset with how Bachmann’s campaign is taking their support for granted. “It is so pervasive and so continuous that it can’t be rogue people doing it without the understanding and encouragement from the candidate herself,” a Palin supporter in Iowa told Real Clear Politics. “The entire Bachmann team has gone around the state saying Palin is a lightweight and a quitter and saying that Sarah’s about to endorse Michele. Bachmann’s campaign is radioactively dirty. They are shameless.” 

Source:  Washington Examiner

This is one good reason that your candidates for President need that experience of running a statewide campaign along with governing.  This idea of becoming a star in your own mind doesn't work in rural America at all.  We want our candidates to be able to sit down and talk to us -- that is the way it has been done for years and it is not going to change.  When I read that Bachmann's handlers shove and elbow people out of the way, I couldn't believe it as the Texas Rangers are ever vigilant for the Governor but they stand back and allow Governor Perry to meet the people, and answer the questions from any and all reporters.  No one is shoved out of the way.  The contrast is obvious down to taking questions from the crowd at the end of his speech.  If Rick Perry is going to be late, his staff will let people know.  It is rude to not only show up late but to not show up at all which Bachmann has been doing in Iowa.  She didn't reach her 6,000 vote goal which now we understand why now the facts are out in public.

The Politico articles starting with Ben Smith's Bachmann plays Napoleon at Waterloo to Ben Smith's and Jonathan Martin's article, Rick Perry schools Michele Bachmann in Waterloo with more details were backed up by the people who were there including Ed Morrisey of Hot Air.  Sean Hannity's Blog has now weighed in as well.  This was not just last night but a pattern that has developed in Iowa by the Bachmann camp led by her husband.

It is time the truth came out about Bachmann and how she is handling her recent rise to the top of Iowa when you are talking about how important this election is against Obama.  We are not even getting into her record from the past.  Unlike others we will not sweep this under the table or pretend that she is a mainstream Republican because she is not -- her actions and speeches over the years speak otherwise.  Sean Hannity sure didn't sweep it under the table and neither will this site.