The early stages of their strategy will feature occasional jabs by Romney — the “career politician” label was thrown to the press in the first few lines of prepared remarks sent out by the campaign Tuesday morning — with a focus on behind-the-scenes conversations with reporters to shape coverage of Perry. But there will be a good deal of waiting also, because the Romney campaign believes that the current third-place candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), will be forced to go on the offensive against Perry, and soon…

Romney advisers also want to give Perry plenty of rope with which to hang himself in the three debates coming in September. The Romney camp believes that Perry’s penchant for talking off the cuff could cause a meltdown, so they see no need to rush toward a confrontation.

“We went through Hurricane Palin and Hurricane Huckabee and Hurricane Trump,” the Romney adviser said, referring to the bright light celebrity names that stoked interest earlier this year: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and businessman Donald Trump.

Referring to Perry, the adviser said: “This is just one more hurricane, but I think we’re at the end of hurricane season.”