I’d like to think it was those e-mails we sent last night…
—Perry stays in presidential race, says it ‘wasn’t a hard decision’
(Statesman)…Gov. Rick Perry said today he will continue his presidential campaign despite a fifth-place showing in the Tuesday Iowa caucuses and serious questions about whether he can continue. “I re-assessed,” Perry said as he left his West Des Moines hotel at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. “We’re headed to New Hampshire and South Carolina.” Perry surprised the political world – and many of his advisers – when he Tweeted this morning that he would stay in the race. His Tweet included a photo from his morning jog.
“I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me,” Perry said.
Perry has scrapped campaign events over the next couple of days in South Carolina but will take part in two weekend debates in New Hampshire. He is unlikely to do well in New Hampshire’s primary next week, so he will instead focus on South Carolina’s Jan. 21 primary. “It’s clearly there,” Perry said. “South Carolina is a place where I feel very comfortable that the values and the people and the time that we spent there. We’re going to give the people of South Carolina, New Hampshire and America a choice in this election.”
Texas First Lady Anita Perry emerged from the hotel and hugged Bob Haus, Perry’s Iowa campaign chairman, and telling him, “Never quit.” Walking past reporters, Anita Perry said, “I love grits.” But Perry faces a very tough road. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum fought to a virtual tie for first place in Iowa. Santorum will now be seen as Romney’s main conservative challenger, at least for the moment. But Perry advisers believe that Santorum, who escaped scrutiny for most of Iowa because he was low in the polls, cannot hold up over the long term.
“I’m going to delineate and characterize the differences in the candidates, and there are huge differences,” Perry said. “These guys are all insiders that have spent years and years in Washington, D.C. They’re the reason that this country is broken, is that the earmarks, the spending habits that’s been built up in Washington, D.C.” Perry also has to work with a staff that is deeply divided between longtime Austin loyalists and Washington advisers. Perry sidestepped when asked if changes were coming to his staff.
“I don’t have any idea, that’s not my area of expertise,” Perry said.
He said Tuesday night that he would assess his campaign upon returning to Texas today. Usually, that means a candidate is about to drop out. “I talked to my campaign staff, senior guys, you know, (Joe) Allbaugh, (Ray) Sullivan,” Perry said. “This wasn’t a hard decision. This was one of those where you take a look, you didn’t do as well in Iowa as you wanted to, but this is a quirky place and a quirky process to say the least. We’re going to go into places where they have actual primaries and there are going to be real Republicans voting. I’m excited about getting out with real Republicans and laying out – not that there aren’t real Republicans here in Iowa, but the fact is that it was a pretty loosey-goosey process and you had a lot of people who were there that admitted they were Democrats, voting in the caucuses last night.”