Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry compete for the Tim Tebow vote: Scenes from the caucuses

The Ticket

DES MOINES, Iowa--He's mentioned during the presidential candidates' speeches. His image appears in their political ads. Is Tim Tebow the new Ronald Reagan?

What does a young NFL quarterback have to do with politics? Nothing, really. But the born-again athlete's star power and popularity have prompted several of the presidential candidates to try to hook themselves to his star.

A political action committee supporting Bachmann is the latest to get in on the Tebow comparison, running TV ads in Iowa that liken her to the 24-year-old born-again Christian.

The announcer in the ad, paid for by a super PAC called No Compromise, says that the establishment "loves to hate" Tebow, but notes he has "no baggage," keeps fighting and keeps winning, before adding, "The same could be said of Michele Bachmann: no baggage, Christian, and like Tebow, she keeps fighting and she just keeps winning votes."

But Bachmann has competition for her claim to being the Tebow of the Iowa caucuses.

Rick Perry, at the last presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, on Dec. 15, said the following:

There are a lot of folks that said Tim Tebow wasn't going to be a very good NFL quarterback. There are people that stood up and said, 'Well, he doesn't have the right throwing, uh, mechanisms, or he's not playing the game right.' And he won two national championships, and that looked pretty good. We were the national champions in job creation back in Texas. And so, am I ready for the next level? Let me tell you, I hope I am the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses.

So far, if polls are to be believed, Bachmann and Perry are going to need some last-minute, Tebow Time heroics to pull off a surprise victory on Tuesday night.

Read more scenes, observations and insights from the four Yahoo News reporters in Iowa on the campaign trail, updated throughout the day and night on Tuesday.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us on Tumblr.

Handy with a camera? Join our Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.