Sixteen days will determine Rick Perry's fate in the Iowa Caucus. The Perry campaign will make close to 50 campaign stops during a barnstorming bus tour across Iowa. It looks like the tour ends January 3, although the last three days have several "to be determined" listings.
There are twelve reporters on the bus, with a Dallas Morning News reporter following in a rental car. I think most of them have been looking forward to this trip. This could provide us with the best access we've had to Perry throughout the whole campaign. Or Perry could stay at arm's length after every event. We'll see.
I don't expect much access to him during the first two days. There's a debate tomorrow night in Sioux City. My guess is he'll be busy with debate prep all day tomorrow.
The bus is very quiet now, as all the reporters are writing blog posts about the tour starting. The tour should be an interesting mix of fun discussion about the campaign, and moments of absolute silence as we all work to file stories.
I'll put up a video tour of the bus at some point during the trip.
