Surprising some members of his own staff, Rick Perry announced via Twitter on Wednesday morning that he will stay in the GOP presidential race despite a disappointing finish in Iowa.
“And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State … Here we come South Carolina!!!” Perry tweeted just after 11 a.m. EST from his personal account, linking to a picture of him in Texas A&M jogging shorts giving a thumbs-up.
Perry campaign manager Joe Allbaugh confirmed to POLITICO that the governor is going forward.
“Staying,” Allbaugh wrote in an email when asked whether Perry is remaining in the race.
A source close to Perry said the Texas governor decided to make a stand in South Carolina because “he is not a quitter and really is the only true conservative in the race.”
“Records matter; start comparing,” the source said.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner said Perry would stay in Texas until Friday, at which point he’ll head to New Hampshire and participate in the two debates there this weekend. The candidate will then go to South Carolina.
Perry’s decision to campaign in South Carolina is a major blow to Rick Santorum’s hopes of consolidating conservatives behind his candidacy. If Perry and Newt Gingrich are still in the GOP race when it heads south on Jan. 21, the base will likely be divided among conservatives.
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6 Responses
1. He is a southerner – Romney and Santorum are northerners. Gingrich is a nominal southerner (born in the north but entered politics in the south).
2. Santorum’s views on some non-financial issues may turn off some of the Tea Party people who would then switch to Perry
3. A not small number of Republican conservatives have ethnic and religious prejudices that will work against them supporting the other candidates. Perry is at this point the only WASP in the race (assuming you count Mormons as non-Protestants, which is how many non-Mormon conservatives see the matter).
4. Perry has been and is the governor of the 2nd largest state – he is the only candidate with a strong record of public services who never was forced from public office by the voters. Romney served one term. Santorum was ousted, and Gingrich fled the 3rd highest office in disgrace.
5. Of the remaining candidates, Perry is probably the second choice of Santorum’s supporters, and probably of Paul’s supporters, and has a fair chance of being the second choice of Romney’s and Gingrich’s supporters.
Rats.
This is the right move. Santorum is a big government conservative, much like Huckabee, and is therefore not acceptable to the TEA Party movement.
@Akuperma
Stop pretending like you know what you are talking about. Those comments were ill minded and flippant.
You are over analyzing things.
#5- Perry is quite rational for staying in even though he came in 5th place. A strong argument can be made that after the South Carolina and Florida primaries, he’ll be clearly ahead of Santorum – and at that point can pick up the “Tea Party” vote that is now scattered. Comparing platforms and backgrounds, Perry is probably going to be the 2nd choice for Paul’s supporters (and those whose focus is isolationism or social libertarianism will job drop out of the process). Perry is still a very realistic candidate, with a proper resume, and views that are not “off the wall” (such as Paul is often, and Gingrich depending on the time of day).
No. 2: Perhaps you meant, “Oops.”
No. 4: The purpose of making comments is to have the opportunity to pretend that one knows what one is talking about. (That especially includes me.)