Perry gaining support with huge crowds in Iowa

CBS News:

Rick Perry's events have taken a turn for the crowded. He'll arrive, typically, to find that a coffee shop built to accommodate 75 people is crammed with up to twice that many, spilling out the door and jammed into every available corner.

The crowds are excited, too. They'll murmur "mmm-hmms" and exclaim "yeahs!" as he winds through his stump speech, breaking into loud applause when he calls for a balanced budget amendment, a part-time Congress and the end of Obamacare. Despite the excitement and enthusiasm, though, the Texas governor remains very firmly stuck in the middle of a race for third place in the Iowa caucuses with Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

The problem? The enthusiastic crowds he draws are made up heavily of the fabled undecided voters in this cycle. Voter after voter at his events will tell you they like Perry. But they also like Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Rep. Michele Bachmann. And while Perry's numbers have crept into the mid-teens in recent weeks, there's still disconnect between his increasingly large crowds and somewhat stagnant showing in the polls.

"The question is whether these crowds are really representative of his level of support across the state and thus there's some movement that polls haven't picked up yet, or whether instead these are simply curiosity-seekers wanting to see part of the carnival," said Drake University politics professor Dennis Goldford.

The good news for the Texas governor is that his poll numbers have improved since his November doldrums when he could barely break 10 percent. Perry isn't denying that he's drawing big crowds of undecided voters. But he's convinced he's breaking through.

"What I'm feeling, what I'm seeing what I know is happening is they're leaving and I know they're going to be caucusing for us on the third of January," he told CBS News/ National Journal.

Conversations with voters suggest Perry's rising numbers are a result of his 14-day bus tour across the state that gives him a chance to display his famed retail politics skills. Some showed up to his town hall in Marshalltown, Iowa with a number of candidates in mind -- but left the event saying they were sold on him.

"He got my vote," said Edward Hermsen, a Marshalltown resident. Ruth Knudson, also from Marshalltown, came to the event with her eye on Romney, Perry and Santorum, but said she left a likely Perry caucus-goer.

"I probably will think some, however, I have to tell you, I was very impressed and he has a good chance of getting my vote," Knudson said after the event.

The issue between now and the caucuses is just how many voters Perry can connect with. "The problem for Perry is whether in fact this message get broadcast any further than those crowds that are actually showing up,' Goldford said.

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Perry is doing what it takes to win in states like Iowa.  He is making up ground he lost by his performance in his early debate appearances.  He needs to finish ahead of Santorum.  He has been attacking the former Pennsylvania senator for his ear marks while in office.  That will probably resonate with the Tea Party voters.

Perry is a great retail politician and he is now in the phase of the campaign that should give him an advantage, although he was getting better as a debater.