For a good chunk of Tuesday, President Obama and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas were no more than an hour apart in Iowa, as the White House took its first jabs at the newest candidate in the race for the Republican nomination.
"I guess the only comment I have is that when you’re President or you’re running for President you have to think about what you’re saying, because your words have greater impact," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
The first scrap between Team Obama and Team Perry came in the wake of comments on Monday by the Governor, where Perry characterized some economic decisions by the Federal Reserve as "almost treasonous."
"President Obama and we take the independence of the Federal Reserve quite seriously, and certainly think threatening the Fed Chairman is probably not a good idea," said Carney.
Perry didn't back down, as suddenly you had to wonder if the back-and-forth in Iowa on Tuesday was just the start of a longer battle between the Governor and President.
"I'm just passionate about the issue and we stand by what we said," Perry said.
Today will be another active day for Perry, who has several events in New Hampshire, starting first thing in the morning with a breakfast meeting with voters in Bedford.
Later, Perry will tour a business in Nashua.
It's the fifth straight day on the road for the Texas Governor, who just got into the race on Saturday; this is already his second stop in the Granite State.
Some of the first poll numbers show Perry rocketing upwards in the GOP ranks, as a Rasmussen poll had Perry at 29% to 18% for Mitt Romney and 13% for Michele Bachmann.
“Governor Perry is enjoying a bounce from entering the race at precisely the right time”, said pollster Scott Rasmussen.
And Perry is certainly enjoying a lot of news attention as well.
Even from the White House.
