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Perry to drop out, endorse Newt By: Emily Schultheis January 19, 2012 09:29 AM EST CHARLESTON, S.C. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to end his presidential campaign Thursday and endorse Newt Gingrich, two sources confirm to POLITICO. An announcement is expected for 11 a.m. in South Carolina. The move comes as Gingrich tries to consolidate conservative support ahead of Saturdays primary, aiming to unite the voters who had been splitting between him, Perry and Rick Santorum. The discord in Perryworld was evident even as the candidate prepared to drop out. Top officials in Texas said they were unaware of his intentions and as late as this morning said they genuinely didnt know whether he was still running. Perry launched his bid here on Aug. 13 amid high expectations for his candidacy and the belief among political observers that hed quickly become the new frontrunner. He announced his candidacy at the RedState convention here the same day as the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. His candidacy sent shock waves through the GOP field, cutting short Michele Bachmanns victory lap after her straw poll win and posing a real threat to then-nominal frontrunner Mitt Romney. At the time, it didnt seem to matter that Perry had entered the race fairly late throughout August, he continued to climb in the polls. But Perrys first round of debates in September provided the candidates first big stumbles the Texas governor often appeared lethargic and couldnt deliver even his most practiced lines. His position on tuition tax breaks for children of illegal immigrants, and a Texas mandate that forced girls to get the HPV vaccine caused further problems for Perry, but he finished September with a strong third-quarter fundraising haul of $17 million. The final nail in the coffin for Perry as a serious contender, many say, and the date his fundraising began to dry up, was his disastrous oops moment at the CNBC debate in Rochester, Mich. Perry struggled for almost a minute to name the third federal department hed abolish as president. I cant, he finally said, visibly exasperated, after his fellow candidates had tried to help him find the answer. Oops. Since then, Perry has aggressively worked to regain his former stature in the polls with little success. He went on the air heavily in Iowa before the states Jan. 3 caucuses, running more than 10 ads and spending almost $3 million on ad buys in December alone. But Perry finished fifth in the caucuses with 10 percent ahead of only Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman, both of whom have already ended their respective bids for president. After his disappointing finish in Iowa, Perry announced he would reassess his candidacy that week and make a decision on whether to proceed. He announced, via a tweet Here we come South Carolina!, accompanied with a photo of Perry in jogging clothes that hed continue on to South Carolina, and ended up skipping New Hampshire altogether. He finished last there on Jan. 10 with less than 1 percent of the vote. But if South Carolina was to be Perrys last stand, it also disappointed. As social conservatives try to mount a real challenge to Romney in the state, many have defected to Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich both seen as more viable candidates at this stage in the race than Perry. A South Carolina state senator who had previously backed Perrys campaign, Larry Grooms, defected to Santorum earlier this week. By Wednesday, prominent conservatives were calling for Perry to exit the race. Even Erick Erickson, the RedState founder who helped usher Perrys candidacy in in August, wrote today that Perrys campaign has come to an end and urged him to back another candidate before Saturdays primary. The Perry campaign began canceling events Wednesday and Thursday as the candidate failed to gain traction and drew only small crowds. © 2012 POLITICO LLC On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > Texas Gov. Rick Perry will end his campaign for the Republican > presidential nomination Thursday and endorse Newt Gingrich, POLITICO > has confirmed. An announcement is scheduled for 11 a.m. in South > Carolina. -- Larry C. Lyons web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as go ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:345527 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
