Public relations -- especially political PR -- is a confusing business.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) just came off a big win in the Iowa Straw Poll when the national press and punditocracy hammered her for a speech in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa for what was originally a low-key political event.
What did she say to set off so many reporters, columnists and talking heads?
Nothing.
Bachmann hadn't committed a big gaffe in her speech. She hadn't said that corporations are people, as Mitt Romney had so famously done before the straw poll. She hadn't poured rhetorical on any political fires.
Her speech wasn't why they attacked her speech at the Lincoln Day Dinner for the Black Hawk County Republican Party.
The press went after her for what happened before her speech even started.
They compared her to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who just entered the Republican race for the White House.
Perry accepted the invitation to the dinner, which wasn't a big deal until he accepted and Bachmann did, too, so as to not cede her birthplace to the newest big dog in the race.
Here's what reporters and pundits noticed: Before the speech, Perry went from table to table, talking to local Republicans, listening to them. He worked the room.
This is basic politics, which is also a skill for any other public figure, whether you're an author, a professional athlete or a Hollywood bigshot.
Talk to people. Work the room. Listen. Make friends. Don't be a diva. Don't be arrogant and unapproachable, or only willing to talk to people you see as important.
Perry scored a lot of points in the press -- and with the local Republicans -- by showing up and being a regular person.
Sure, he was a speaker, and a freshly minted candidate for president. But he was there before the dinner, he was there at a table, eating dinner with them, and he listened to the other speakers just like they did. He didn't act above it all. He was humble and approachable.
Bachmann didn't show up before her speech to work the room. She didn't eat dinner with everybody else and listen to the other speakers. She waited in her trailer until one introduction was done and then waited for a second introduction before coming into the room.
Here's what Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin said about Bachmann's entrance in their Politico story:
But Bachmann campaigned like a celebrity. And the event highlighted the brittle, presidential-style cocoon that has become her campaign’s signature: a routine of late entries, unexplained absences, quick exits, sharp-elbowed handlers with matching lapel pins, and pre-selected questioners.
She camped out in her bus, parked on the street in front of a nearby Ramada Hotel, until it was time to take the stage. Even after a local official’s introduction, Bachmann was nowhere to be found. It was not until a second staffer assured her that the lighting had been changed and a second introduction piped over the loudspeakers that she entered the former dance hall here. By the time she made her big entrance to bright lights and blaring music, the crowd seemed puzzled.
Politico wasn't alone. The diva angle made it into story after story.
It was the main takeaway from the dinner, which isn't some kind of unique event. There are dinners like this for local Republican and Democratic parties in every county in every state. They happen all the time.
Why so much attention about whether or not Bachmann shook hands and mingled with the crowd and sat at a table like Perry and everybody else?
Because the Iowa caucus is all about grass-roots support.
This isn't an election where people go to the ballot box and vote. A caucus requires that you invest serious time at a party event. Hours instead of minutes. Far fewer people show up for caucuses than go to the polls. A caucus is a test of hard-core support.
So perception matters. One of the best things you can do is bond with your audience, since you are asking them to invest time or money -- or both -- in you. That's true whether you're a rock star trying to sell albums and concert tickets, an author trying to sell books or a politician selling ideas and looking for support.
Bachmann put distance between her and the audience. She separated herself.
Perry brought down those walls. He acted like it didn't matter that he was governor of major state and a newly minted presidential contender. He made people feel like it was no big deal for him to sit at their table and talk to them. One of the guys.
Perry bonded with his audience before the speech. Bachmann put up walls between her and the local people there to listen -- and meet -- the presidential candidates. So it's no surprise that it didn't really matter what Perry said in his speech, or what Bachmann said. The game was over before it began.