Bachmann blots copybook as Perry charms Iowa

Two of the biggest names in the race for the Republican presidential nomination attended the same Republican dinner on Sunday, but the hoped-for fireworks failed to materialise when Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry failed to come face to face - with some criticising Bachmann for "acting like Madonna".

The Tea Party favourite was in her home town of Waterloo celebrating her win in the Ames straw poll, seen as a good indicator of a candidate's chances of winning the Iowa caucus vote. However, the wind was rather taken out of her sails by the sudden arrival of Texas governor Rick Perry, who had only announced that he was running for the nomination on Saturday.

The prospect of the pair sharing the bill at the Black Hawk County Republican Party dinner had prompted exciting talk of a "shoot-out at the OK Corral". But in the end they did not even acknowledge each other's presence at the event and there was no direct confontation.

Bachmann didn't even show up until Perry had finished his speech, and although Perry listened to Bachmann and applauded at the right moments, he slipped out of a side door soon after she had finished.

Perry had arrived at the event bright and early and spent half-an-hour pressing the flesh with locals before listening to the warm up speeches and then delivering his address. He followed up his speech with a question and answer session, which is said to have gone down well with the locals.

While all this was happening, Bachmann was reportedly waiting outside in her campaign bus preparing for her grand entrance. After being given the all-clear she swept into the room accompanied by Elvis Presley's version of Promised Land.

However, the Minnesota congresswoman's late arrival did not impress all the party activists at the event. It took more than five minutes for Bachmann to make it to the stage as she signed autographs and the lighting set up on the stage was changed to suit her needs.

One member of the audience told the Daily Telegraph afterwards: "She came into the room like she was Madonna or something, a big star appearing before all us little people. She didn't want to answer questions. That's not the way we do politics here."

Another commented to Politico: "I was really a big fan of hers up until how I saw her come into this event."

"We had a couple speakers scheduled to speak after her," one disgruntled organiser told NBC. "But as soon as she was done, the music blasted up, she started signing autographs, and... people just started leaving." ·