Dimite Perry

El sitio de internet politico.com informa:

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to end his presidential campaign Thursday and endorse Newt Gingrich, two sources confirm to POLITICO.

An announcement is expected for 11 a.m. in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Gingrich will be hoping the move gives him a boost as tries to consolidate conservative support ahead of Saturday’s primary, aiming to unite the voters who had been splitting between him, Perry and Rick Santorum.

Gingrich has been assiduously lobbying Perry officials in recent days, POLITICO has learned. The former House speaker has repeatedly texted Perry manager Joe Allbaugh.

Sources confirm Gingrich and Perry met privately yesterday to discuss the exit and endorsement. Both attended the Personhood USA anti-abortion presidential forum in Greenville on Wednesday night.

Perry, however, did not make the decision about exiting the race until the morning. But the discord within the Perry campaign was evident even as the candidate prepared to drop out.

Top officials in Texas said they were unaware of his intentions and as late as this morning said they genuinely didn’t know whether he was still running.

Gingrich refused to comment on news Thursday morning as he exited his campaign bus at a town hall in Bluffton, S.C.

Perry has been unpredictable before — back in Texas to reassess his campaign’s viability following his fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Perry surprised even many in his inner circle by personally tweeting a message saying he was staying in the race, and heading to South Carolina to campaign.

Since the weekend before the New Hampshire primary, he had been on a retail campaign through the state, making multiple appearances per day and continuing to rail against his rivals — particularly Mitt Romney, whom he attacked for “vulture capitalism” at Bain Capital and not releasing his tax returns, among other things.

But he failed to generate much enthusiasm or momentum. A POLITICO poll of likely South Carolina voters released Thursday showed him at the back of the pack, at 4 percent, with Romney ahead of Gingrich 37-30 percent. The poll found Ron Paul at 11 percent and Rick Santorum at 10 percent.

It’s been a steep fall for Perry, who launched his bid here on Aug. 13 amid high expectations for his candidacy and the belief among political observers that he’d quickly become the new frontrunner. He announced his candidacy at the RedState convention here the same day as the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.

His candidacy sent shock waves through the GOP field, stomping on Michele Bachmann’s victory lap after her straw poll win. At the time, it didn’t seem to matter that Perry had entered the race fairly late — throughout August, he continued to climb in the polls.

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