Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry - a beautiful 2012 rivalry

AMES, Iowa -- Michele Bachmann is Rick Perry's main rival now in the battle to give Republicans a viable alternative to Mitt Romney. Tim Pawlenty's campaign is on life support. And Ron Paul's jaw-dropping straw poll result showed how much the Republican party has turned toward a robust, full-throated, small government conservatism.


Those were the lessons of Ames in 2011.


The 4,823-vote win by Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn.) was announced as Perry greeted voters in New Hampshire. The Texas governor had flown there after announcing his candidacy earlier in the day in South Carolina.


Despite not having his name on the ballot, Perry got a surprisingly high number as well: 718 votes. That beat Mitt Romney's total of 567 votes, despite the fact that the former Massachusetts governor's name was on the ballot while Perry was a write-in.


"Romney better strap it on and get on the field," Henry Barbour, an influential Republican consultant and national committee member from Mississippi, told The Huffington Post.


Members of the Romney camp in the spin room argued that the results were good for their man, in that Perry and Bachmann will fight for the hard-core evangelical and Tea Party vote in Iowa -- leaving their candidate, whose expectations are now very low here -- a chance to make a move.


But the close second place finish by Paul -- the Texas congressman finished the day with a very impressive tally of 4,671 votes -- also showed the power of the Libertarian-leaning philosophy that he espouses.


Both aim for the backing of the same bloc of religious and social conservatives who dominate Iowa's kick-off nominating contest.


Both hope to become the chief Republican alternative to nominal front-runner Mitt Romney in the 2012 fight for the right to challenge President Barack Obama.


And both will be in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann's birthplace, on Sunday night to speak at a local fund-raising dinner in what looks like Act One of a beautiful rivalry.


"Perry is the looming presence in Michele Bachmann's future," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. "They appeal to the same people."


Perry and Bachmann share a deep Christian faith, a hearty distrust of the federal government and core conservative principles on social issues like abortion and gay marriage.


But Bachmann, founder of the Tea Party caucus in Congress and an early supporter of the movement to reduce spending and government, has faced more questions than Perry about whether she can expand her appeal to a broader electorate.


Her straw poll win showed the power of her appeal to conservatives in Iowa but making her pitch to moderates and independents in states like New Hampshire and Florida could prove a tougher task.


"Right now, she can capture the hearts of the right wing," Republican consultant Alex Castellanos said on CNN. "But she has to prove that she can be a general election candidate before Republicans will really take her seriously and move her into that top tier."


At the straw poll, Bachmann left no doubt about where she was aiming her remarks.


"Whether we are Tea Party or social conservatives or fiscal conservatives or national security conservatives, if we stick together ... greatness will once again belong to the United States of America," she said.


Perry, who hosted a national day of prayer a week ago and once asked drought-plagued Texans to pray for rain, also aims his appeal at social and religious conservatives.


But he also stresses his record of more than a decade of executive experience heading Texas, which has had strong job growth that could help him win over the party's pro-business wing and independents.


On his visit to more moderate New Hampshire on Saturday, Perry dropped much of the social rhetoric and focused his remarks on the economy and jobs.


Bachmann is also certain to hear more criticism of her record, or lack of it, in Congress after rival Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, focused on her credentials during Thursday's televised Republican debate.


Pawlenty ripped Bachmann for touting her opposition to higher spending, the healthcare overhaul and other government programs that passed over her objections.


But Pawlenty limped to a distant third-place finish in the straw poll, raising questions about the future of his struggling campaign while Bachmann is still going strong.


The straw poll win "is a big boost for her," former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who finished second in the 2007 straw poll, told reporters.