Perry jabs at Romney over $10k bet

Rick Perry' held one public event in Iowa today - a jampacked coffee house appearance in fairly liberal-tilting Ames - and slammed Mitt Romney over thie $10,000 bet to reporters, while keeping his focus on his anti-Washington, anti-establishment message with the crowd.

Perry spoke for about 15 minutes and took no questions at the event, which was marred at the end by protestors who shouted over his speech about his anti-DADT ad bemoaning the notion of gays in the military.

He was swarmed by autograph-seekers and didn't do a formal Q and A with reporters, but a few caught up to him as he made his way to the exit.

“For most Iowans, having an extra 10,000 (dollars) that you would throw down on a bet seems very out of the ordinary.” Perry told a few reporters after his speech, according to a tweet from the Daily Caller's Alex Pappas.

The line was similar to what Perry said earlier on Fox News Sunday, and underscored the extent to which Romney's rivals are seizing on the remark to show him as out of touch. Romney has yet to address the flub, and it's unclear how he'll handle it later today in New Hampshire.

Perry, meanwhile, stayed on message with the group, talking about the "insider trading" in Congress and saying, "If you did it you'd go to jail. But they're exempt from it. None of that's gonna change if we send another insider to Washington."

Toward the end, he was interrupted by two people who called out in protest of his anti-DADT ad that talked about President Obama's "war on religion."

"Why do you hate gay people so much!" yelled one man, who identified himself as Jason Armet, of Grimes Iowa, an English major at Iowa State University, and said he served in Iraq with the Marine Corp. He got into an argument with an attendee, who told him he ought not to come to the event if he didn't want to listen.

The ad "was extremely offensive, that's why I'm here pretty much," said Armet.

"It was insulting, it was degrading to service members," he added of the spot featuring Perry, a former vet.

Another man, who identified himself as Warren Blumenfeld, yelled out a few feet from Perry, condemning his ad.

The event was packed with about 100 people. But many of them said they are still undecided, and are weighing their choices. The $10,000 line was very much on the mind of some.

"I like Michele Bachmann, and I'm going to vote my faith the first time around, and then I'm going to vote for the Republiacn candidate," said Bill McCall of Ames.

"Mitt, boy, Mitt sacres me,' he said. "Anybody that can make a $10,000 bet just like that. That's way out of my league. I haven't even met anybody that can make that (bet) so fast. And it looks like something he does daily, as fast as he came out with it...I think that's typical behavior (for him)."

"I'm still undecided, but I'm looking," John McClain, of Independence, Iowa, adding he was weighing between Perry, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum. He described Newt Gingrich as having "too much baggage," and suggested Team Obama is licking its chops at running against him.

He said he backed Romney in the caucuses in 2008, but that he'd had his chance, and now it's time for someone new.

Brenda McGuire, of Colo, Iowa, said she is looking at "the conservative tier, not the top tier. I'm not looking at Romney, (Ron) Paul or Gingrich right now."

She bemoaned the lack of candidate activity in Iowa 23 days out from the caucus. Perry and Santorum were the only ones holding events, and the former Pennsylvania senator was stumping in eastern Iowa, far away from much of the press corp.

"It's been hard to find out what their schedules are," she said.

Maggie Haberman is senior political reporter for Politico.