Bachmann stands aside as Super PAC skewers Perry

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has avoided criticizing Rick Perry even as the Texas governor has overtaken her in the polls for the GOP presidential nomination.

That isn't stopping an independent pro-Bachmann political action committee from launching its own attack.

Keep Conservatives United, one of two so-called Super PACs supporting Bachmann's presidential bid, is launching TV ads in South Carolina this week directly attacking Perry.

"He's supposed to be the Tea Party guy?" a narrator asks of Perry in the ad. "There is an honest conservative, and she's not Rick Perry."

The PAC's hard line against Perry stands in contrast to Bachmann, who has focused her attacks on President Obama and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has since dropped out of the race. Her TV ads in Iowa have been warm introductions, highlighting her as a mother, tax attorney and small-business owner.

The PAC's attack, one of the first TV spots to launch in South Carolina, is the latest example of Super PACs taking on an outsized role in the 2012 election. Created in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010, Super PACs have emerged to offer firm backing to most of the GOP presidential field: Bachmann, Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. President Obama also has a Super PAC in his court.

Super PACs are required by law to remain entirely separate from a candidate's campaign. But even if Bachmann's campaign isn't behind the latest ads, are voters going to realize -- or care -- that there is a difference?

"Most voters just watch what they see on TV and either agree or disagree," said Henry McMaster, a former South Carolina attorney general and GOP state party chair who is backing Huntsman. "I don't think the average voter concerns himself or herself with the source as much as what's in it."

The ad could become fodder in Wednesday's GOP presidential debate when Bachmann and Perry face off for the first time. Since entering the race last month, Perry has scooped up significant chunks of Bachmann's conservative support and her poll numbers have slipped.

Bachmann's campaign declined to comment on the ad.

Aides move to PACs

Super PACs generally did not back individual candidates in the 2010 election, when operatives were just starting to test the bounds of these new political committees. Now with the presidential primaries fast approaching -- and with the presidency on the line -- Super PACs are emerging as a key force in the race.

A key advantage of Super PACs is that they can collect unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and unions -- so long as they don't coordinate with a campaign. But campaign finance advocates warn that Super PACs are becoming de facto vehicles for massive, unchecked campaign contributions.

"They appear to be nothing more than arms of the candidates' campaigns that allow donors to circumvent the contribution limits that apply to candidates," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign finance watchdog group. "They basically have the capacity to end our system of candidate contribution limits."

While there are supposed to be no ties to the campaigns, one-time aides of presidential candidates abound in the Super PACs.

Mike Toomey, who started the pro-Perry group Make Us Great Again, used to be Perry's chief of staff. The Texas governor's former legislative director, Dan Shelley, has started two Super PACs backing Perry. Fred Davis was working for Huntsman's campaign until he jumped to Our Destiny PAC after it was created in August to support Huntsman.

One of the chief operators of Citizens For a Working America, the second pro-Bachmann Super PAC, has ties to Bachmann's congressional and presidential campaigns. Ed Brookover, chairman of the political arm of consulting firm Greener and Hook, was an adviser to Bachmann's presidential bid as she geared up to run. His firm received more than $750,000 from Bachmann's 2010 congressional campaign, federal election records show.

Perry fires back

Bob Harris, who runs Keep Conservatives United, said he decided to attack Perry because "his record doesn't match his rhetoric."

Harris' ad will air five days this week on CNN, Fox News and CNBC in the Columbia, S.C., market. He declined to say how much money is being spent to air the ad.

The ad accuses Perry of raising spending as governor and borrowing to cover deficits. Perry is shown in a cowboy hat with the words "Tea Party guy?" next to him.

Perry's campaign shot back by calling Keep Conservatives United a "Bachmann front-group" and saying the ad is "patently false."

"Gov. Perry is a proven fiscal conservative, having cut taxes, signed six balanced budgets and led Texas to become America's top job-creating state," Perry's communication director Ray Sullivan said.

Even if the candidates themselves haven't gone negative on TV yet, the Keep Conservatives United ad may be the first shot in a high-priced television war among Super PACs. Plenty of groups are primed to return fire: The pro-Romney Super PAC raised $12 million last quarter, while Perry has a half-dozen Super PACs backing him.

"It's politics 101: If you can't drive up your positives you have to drive up your opponent's negatives," Bob Schuman, who runs the Super PAC Americans for Rick Perry, said of the pro-Bachmann ad. "But at this early stage, it reeks a little bit of desperation."

Jeremy Herb • 202-408-2723 Twitter: @StribHerb