| Last night, Perry received 10.3% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses, finishing in fifth place. It was Perry's first-ever election loss.
During his speech to supporters, he announced that he was going back to Texas to "reassess" his path forward.
In a strangely quick turnaround, Perry tweeted from his personal Twitter account this morning: "Here we come South Carolina!!!"
He attached a photo of himself jogging near a lake, wearing Texas A&M running shorts and showing a thumbs-up.
5th Place Perry Blames Iowa
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Perry said of his choice to go to South Carolina: "This was not a hard decision."
"This is a quirky place and a quirky process to say the least," Perry said of Iowa, noting that he believed Democrats were voting in the Iowa caucuses. "We're going to go into, you know, places where they have actual primaries and there are going to be real Republicans voting."
Instead of accepting his defeat and vowing to fight harder in the next contest, Perry has decided to lash out against Iowa. This type of bitterness is a very weak sign from a candidate who was clearly rejected by "real Republicans" last night.
Let's not forget that Perry devoted most of his campaign to this "quirky place" without "real Republicans," largely banking on an impressive finish in Iowa to propel forward his candidacy.
Staff Shaky
Despite Perry's strongheadedness with reporters this morning, his campaign staff seems uncertain of the status of their candidacy.
The Texas Tribune reports that Perry's staff "appeared largely dumbfounded about the Texas governor's plans" this morning.
"We are all scrambling," one staffer wrote in a text message.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor "never left the race," but acknowledged that plans were "all very fluid."
How strange.
Did losing his first election send Perry into an ego trip so powerful that he made a rash decision less than 12 hours after his "reassessment" began?
Is Perry communicating with his staff anymore?
Does Perry have any real plan?
As Perry's campaign staffed bickered publicly in the last few weeks, we knew the Perry campaign was falling apart. Last night, Perry's dismal fifth place finish seemed an obvious end to the campaign.
This morning, Perry made it clear: the campaign will go on, more confused and with less potential than ever before. |
