The Des Moines Register reports that Rick Perry will bus through Iowa, December 14-31, stopping in 44 cities along the way.
The bus tour roll through hit western Iowa first, with a stop in Council Bluffs. It heads north and west to Le Mars, Spencer and Storm Lake. Northeast Iowa gets attention next, including Decorah and Dubuque.
It turns south to Davenport and Burlington, then back into the heart of the state to Newton and Ottumwa. The big population centers of Black Hawk County and Linn County get visits, too.
Barring a Newt collapse (which would make Perry the default alternative to Mitt), Perry absolutely needs to win Iowa.
And he's going for it with all he's got. He's running a slate of TV ads, his Super PAC is on the air, he's unleashing 600 Texas volunteers on the state, and now he's got the bus blitz.
In the most recent Iowa poll (released yesterday), Perry is at 9%, which puts him 8% behind Ron Paul, 11% behind Mitt Romney, and 24% behind Newt Gingrich.
But that's actually much better than he's performing in other states, so both its spot on the calender + his stronger polling there makes it the obvious investment.
