Good-Bye Perry, Hello Newt

Texas Governor Rick Perry suspended his presidential campaign today and endorsed Newt Gingrich, giving the former House speaker a boost ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina primary.

Perry’s campaign was doomed by his poor debate performances, particularly his infamous “oops” moment when he couldn’t remember all three federal agencies he had pledged to abolish. He’d hoped to rebound in South Carolina, but a new poll for Politico conducted by the Tarrance Group found only 4 percent of Republican voters there supported him.

Perry concluded there “was no viable path forward for me” in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

His departure was just a matter of time -- the big news was Perry’s decision to endorse Gingrich, who has been surging in South Carolina in recent days following a strong performance in Monday’s debate.

“I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country,” Perry said.

Gingrich, he said, has the courage to tell Washington interests “to take a hike.”

Perry’s endorsement should help Gingrich consolidate conservatives who want an alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney behind him, instead of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. The Politico poll showed Santorum had only 10 percent support among South Carolina Republicans.

A win or near-win in South Carolina would enable Gingrich to move on to Florida. A poor showing for Santorum in South Carolina likely would end his candidacy, leaving only three Republicans still in the hunt for the GOP nomination: Romney, Gingrich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, whose passionate following among libertarian-minded voters likely will keep him in the race until the convention.

Gingrich said he was “humbled and honored” to have Perry’s support.

“I ask the supporters of Governor Perry to look at my record of balancing the budget, cutting spending, reforming welfare, and enacting pro-growth policies to create millions of new jobs,” Gingrich said.

Perry also noted that Gingrich isn’t perfect, “but who among us is.”

Maybe he was referring to Gingrich’s marital history. An interview with one of his ex-wives (Marianne, wife No. 2) will air on ABC’s “Nightline” tonight. Marianne will talk about how Newt told her he wanted an “open marriage” and that she’d have to share him with Callista, his then-mistress and now-wife No. 3, if she wanted to stay married to him.

There’s also yet another Republican debate tonight. After Monday’s boffo performance, Gingrich will be expected to shine again. If he doesn’t meet these high expectations, it could slow his momentum, and deny him the final surge he needs to edge Romney on Saturday.

Finally, Santorum also got some good news today -- he, not Romney, apparently won the Iowa caucus. The final certified tally shows Santorum ahead by 34 votes. But results from eight precincts have disappeared, so the Iowa Republican Party declared the result a tie. More than 11 years after Florida’s fiasco in the 2000 presidential election, folks are still having trouble counting votes.

---

Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.