After the Texas governor finished fifth in the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday night, Perry’s staff and volunteers gathered around the bar in a Des Moines hotel to say goodbyes, drink beer and mourn what appeared to be the end of his quest for the Republican nomination for president.
Perry had, after all, just said that he would return to Texas and “reassess” his campaign in a speech that had all the markings of a withdrawal from the race.
Only it wasn’t. Less than 12 hours later, Perry – still in Iowa – surprisingly declared that he would continue in the race, and make South Carolina his make-or-break state.
What changed his mind?
Senior Perry aides, friends and staff members told Reuters that after a restless night, Perry and his staff ultimately decided there were four reasons the campaign should continue.
Most significantly, his team essentially calculated that Rick Santorum, who emerged in Iowa as the leading conservative alternative to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, isn’t a strong enough candidate to hold that position in future contests.
Perry’s campaign also received calls from supporters in Texas, who urged the governor not to give up. And Perry aides determined that their campaign – more so than those of Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, or former House speaker Newt Gingrich – had the organization and fund-raising abilities to compete with Romney in the South Carolina primary on January 21.
Finally, Perry decided that he did not want to leave the race without competing in South Carolina, a state whose conservative voting base is more in line with his politics than middle-of-the road Iowa or New Hampshire, which will hold its primary on Tuesday.
(Read More at Reuters)
