Rick Perry First to Call It Quits from the Presidential Race

On Friday, former Texas Governor Rick Perry announced the suspension of his presidential campaign.  In his announcement he said “We have a tremendous field of candidates – probably the greatest group of men and women. I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, as long as we listen to the grassroots, listen to that cause of conservatism. If we do that, then our party will be in good hands.”

Suspension of the campaign effectively means dropping out, no one has ever restarted a campaign after suspending it…

In reality, Governor Perry was having tremendous difficulties raising funds for his campaign.  He was polling near zero, and had been relegated to the early debate rather than the prime time version.

During his announcement he recapped some of his record in Texas during his 14-year term.  “During my 14 years as governor, Texas created nearly one-third of all new American jobs. We passed balanced budgets, cut taxes, set aside billions of dollars for a rainy day, and elevated our graduation rates to second highest in the nation.”

Author’s note:  Perry had a genuinely impressive record, but to have had a chance for the nomination, he would have had to have enough staying power to wait out the popularity waves of guys like Trump and Carson (and all of the others…).  It was a risk for his backers, since Jeb Bush already has $100 million in the bank and Trump seems to be capable of generating popularity waves.

This is very likely the last we will see of Governor Pery on the national stage.  He will not likely run for President again and he did not make a big enough splash to play a secondary role, like RNC chair or head of a major department.   He is 65 years old, and would likely have had a few more years of limelight if he could have had more staying power.