Perry alista a 1,500 capitanes de recinto para la noche del Caucus

CNN:

Even as they grapple with mediocre poll numbers, a gaffe-prone candidate and internal staff feuding, Rick Perry's advisers are confident that a top-three caucus finish is within reach on Tuesday.

The reason? Organization.

Aside from Iowa frontrunners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, Perry is thought to be the only Republican candidate here with the kind of sophisticated ground game to pull off a much-needed comeback.

And with public and internal polling from various campaigns showing the fight for third place to be a fluid one between Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Perry, a robust organization can mean the difference between a ticket home and a ticket to New Hampshire.

There are 1,774 Republican caucus precincts around the state, 900 of which are combined and held at the same location.

As of Friday, the Texas governor had signed up 1,500 precinct leaders in Iowa, a source inside the Perry campaign told CNN.

The source requested anonymity because staffers are not authorized to reveal the information.

The Perry camp also has 470 out-of-state volunteers descending on Iowa this weekend (including Perry's own family, which flew in on Friday).

The source said that by caucus night, "we will easily have over 2,000 Perry volunteers" fanning out across the state knocking on doors and speaking for Perry at their voting sites.

That means roughly 95% of caucus locations will hear from a representative from the Perry campaign on Tuesday night, the source added.

Campaigns in Iowa do not typically reveal their precinct leader figures, mainly to keep caucus night expectations in check.

But those leaders - regular men and women who sign up with a campaign to speak for their preferred candidate at their local precincts - play a crucial role on caucus night.

"The best example of organization on caucus night is who the candidates have as their surrogate speaker in their precincts," said Iowa Republican Party chairman Matthew Strawn. "When you have a third of the electorate persuadable to change, the people they have standing up in each precinct for their candidate becomes real important."

The Romney campaign will not share its number of precinct captains, and the Paul campaign has closely guarded the details of its grassroots operation.