Rick Perry recruits Bobby Jindal for final Iowa push

Reporting from Des Moines —  Rick Perry needs help to finish in the top tier in tonight’s Iowa caucuses, so at a downtown event hours before the first ballots were to be cast, he called for some backup.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, viewed as a rising star in GOP political circles, introduced Perry to a room full of hundreds of insurance industry professionals and staff, and praised Perry’s job-creation record in Texas and his leadership as governor.

Jindal said the two had worked together through Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, as well as 2010’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and he contrasted Perry’s experience with President Obama’s. “He doesn’t need on-the-job training,” Jindal said. “He’s been governor for 11 years.”

It was a low-key event with a corporate vibe, but Perry seemed particularly in a passionate mood, speaking largely thematically and avoiding policy, while advocating states’ rights, a small federal government and his plan to turn Congress into a part-time body, with his voice often dropping into a stage whisper.

He sought to counter skeptics who argue that Perry’s idea is too simplistic to be taken seriously. “It will work,” he said. “And it will make Washington less influential. It will make Washington less consequential.”

Defining what would constitute a successful evening for Perry here is an elusive task. His recent multi-week bus tour has allowed him to connect with Iowa caucus-goers in a way he hadn’t before, and recent polls have shown him still within striking distance of third place. But there has been little sign that Perry has caught the same wave that’s propelled rival Rick Santorum toward the top. Both are competing for the state’s evangelical vote.

More realistically, Perry may be in a battle with Newt Gingrich for fourth place. If he secures that, it may be enough to give him a slight boost as he heads straight to South Carolina this week to make what could potentially be his last stand in its Jan. 21 primary.

A finish near the bottom tonight, however, would mark an ignominious turn for a man who entered the race in this state four months ago to great fanfare.