For months conservatives have tried to get their fantasy candidates into the 2012 presidential race -- Politico summed up the "egghead right's" thinking on the current field like this: "Rick Perry is a dope, Michele Bachmann is a joke and Mitt Romney is a fraud." But one by one, the GOP dreamboats -- including Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie -- have said they're for-real-for-real not running. So now Perry's urging Iowa Republicans to give up the dream. Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy the Texas governor has been calling Iowa supporters of Christie.

"Right now, it's a wide open race and I haven't seen anybody catch fire yet, but out of the chute, I think Perry is looking the best," Des Moines businessman Gary Kirke, a member of the group that urged Christie to run, told RCP. "If I had to make a drop-dead decision today, I'd go for Perry."

 

In addition to Kirke, Perry was also scheduled to make Tuesday afternoon calls to Iowa energy executive Bruce Rastetter and Michael Richards, a West Des Moines physician-turned-businessman.

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Elspeth Reeve