“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…

If Perry succeeds in corralling some of the heavyweight Iowa backers of Christie, it will mark another significant sign of momentum for his quick-starting campaign in the nation’s first voting state.