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WALCOTT, Iowa -- By most obvious measures, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's appearance here on Tuesday went off without a hitch. Having taken plenty of heat for his comment Monday that it would be "treasonous" for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to print more money before Election Day, Perry was back on message as he addressed an enthusiastic audience in a place that bills itself as the world's largest truck stop.

But while the crowd of less than 100 seemed receptive to Perry’s jobs-focused stump speech, the gathering here could have been much larger had the nascent Perry campaign taken the routine step of reaching out to Judy Davidson -- the Republican chair for Scott County, where the event was held. But it failed to do so in time for Davidson to help.

“I will tell you that we have quite an extensive email list of about 1,300 names that we do send out information to,” Davidson said in a phone interview. “When Congresswoman Bachmann was here, we had about 300 people, and we had about 150 for Pawlenty the next day.”

Two Eastern Iowans who attended the Perry event on Tuesday said that they heard about it through an automated phone call.

Davidson said that she was eventually contacted by two contrite Perry campaign officials, who apologized for the oversight. She said that she had no hard feelings about the lapse but did not attend the event due to her own logistical hang-ups.

“We do what we can to promote all the candidates that come to Scott County,” Davidson said. “I just think so much happened to them in such a short time that they’re just trying to sort of catch up to their tails.”

Every new presidential campaign has missteps once it launches, but failing to notify a key local official that the candidate will be in the area is a reminder of the challenges posed by the compressed time frame the Perry camp faces. It’s a reminder too that Team Perry has to find its footing and catch up with the other campaigns’ well-oiled operations.

“They told me they’ll be coming to Scott County again, so I look forward to their next visit,” Davidson said.