Posted on 01/18/2012 1:22:00 PM PST by TBBT
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Several prominent conservatives have called for Rick Perry to call his presidential bid quits, with one blogger urging the Texas governor to end his campaign and throw his backing toward Newt Gingrich.
Erick Erickson, the founder of RedState.com, the website that hosted the event where Perry announced his presidential bid in August, penned an entry today calling Perry a potential “kingmaker” in the South Carolina primary if he drops out before the weekend.
“Barring a miracle, this is Rick Perry’s final act in the 2012 elections. On Saturday, he will come in last in South Carolina,” Erickson wrote in a diary entry on RedState today. “Perry, however, has a potential trump card up his sleeve as he rebuilds political capital. It’s simple: he can drop out today, and endorse someone else. Doing so today, before the CNN debate tomorrow, gives the news time to sink in.”
Erickson suggested that the Texas governor’s choice of an endorsement would likely be Gingrich, not Romney or Santorum.
Earlier in the day, radio host Laura Ingraham urged the Texas governor to leave the race in order to boost another social conservative over front-runner Mitt Romney. “It’s time for Rick Perry to drop out of the race — he is only helping Romney by splitting the vote,” Ingraham tweeted.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The message is clear. If Perry drops out now, he has at least a bit of political capital he can trade for influence down the road. If he finishes a dismal last in SC he will drop out and have zero influence. The choice is his. If he genuinely believes the GOP needs a conservative nominee, now is the time for him to act decisively.
Much the same way Herman Cain had from the beginning
We've just cast our early ballots for Newt here in Florida
.
Sadly, Perry needs to exit while it can still do some good. Santorum's supporters need to look deeply at his establishment, big gov't record and W 2.0 proposals and not just get swept up in his "pro family" happy talk.
Newt definitely still has a path forward even with a second place win in SC.
Newt polls higher than Santorum even after the attack adds and despite his "baggage". what's that say about the rest of the field?
He did win Iowa - clearly it’s not something to brag about. ;)
Newt folks would be ecstatic if he were anywhere close to Romney in SC, let alone beating him as Santorum did.
Considering many Perry supporters were heavily dissing everyone else during this election cycle I don't think anyone cares to even open the doors on the bus but would rather he be underneath it.
Since he's polling so badly right now, any of the slag left behind after his eventual exit wouldn't be enough to matter anyway.
He’s within 3 points of Romney according to Rassmusen yesterday. Nobody else is anywhere near that. Santorum squeaked out a tie in Iowa. Good for him; however, as predicted, he started to slip right after that. We’ll see what happens after SC I guess. I don’t dislike Santorum btw, I just question his viability in a general election against Obama. I want the most conservative candidate that can win and I think that’s Gingrich after you have weighed and measured everyone. I’m not in love with Newt for that matter. It isn’t personal, it’s just politics. Hopefully it doesn’t rip us apart which is what the Dems are obviously hoping for.
Perry doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit.....or a lot of other words either.
When there’s a 3% difference in the polls between the two leading candidates, 4% is very much a factor.
Here’s the problem,
Newt doesn’t do very well against Romney, even with Santorum supporters out.
Head to head, he actually loses to Santorum, while Santorum crushes Newt.
In the general - Newt actually polls below Obama, and below Santorum.
The numbers do not suggest that a Gingrich nomination will benefit anyone other than the democrats.
This is why I feel we are wasting valuable time and money with Newt. Yes, I know it’s counterintuitive, but I’m pretty sure the numbers on this are correct.
Yeah, I realize that you don’t have any respect for Perry voters.
You seem to believe that they would have a desire to endorse Newt after how you’re treating them. I don’t see it. The more you trash them, the less they are going to go to Newt.
I guess you don't believe any of the polls, then, which show your guy trailing Newt by a significant percentage. The people must really hate Santorum, if what you say is true.
Well, here’s the problem.
Perry supporters like Santorum
Gingrich supporters like Santorum
Romney supporters like Santorum
and yes, even Paul supporters like Santorum.
The opposite is not true. While yes, depending on the poll, more people like Gingrich as their first choice than Santorum, Santorum dominates the head to head.
Thus both are true. Santorum has high positives yet polls behind Newt. This is significant in a 4 or 5 man race, and can often be more significant than the straight up first choices.
I do believe them, I just look a little deeper than the headlines.
Romney actually draws more Santorum supporters than Newt. Again, because Newt just isn’t well liked by the electorate as a whole.
This is why if Santorum gets out, Newt is going to be hurt rather than helped. The inverse is not true. Most of Newt’s supporters will go to Santorum.
Then there's staying power. We predicted that Santorum would start slipping after Iowa because he lacked the resources, name recognition, and ground game to do what he did in Iowa nationwide.He also benefited greatly from the Romney attack adds as they diverted votes away from Newt and to him. As predicted, he is slipping while Gingrich is regaining his lost momentum.
there's also overall wisdom and intelligence. It's hard to measure this quality in this kind of format but easy to recognize it especially when it is in abundance or deficit. I think America's problems are great enough that we need a man of exceptional intelligence and wisdom. That, once again, is clearly Newt which is not to say that Santorum isn't intelligent but it's pretty obvious that Newt is more so and America's problems are great enough that we should lean towards higher intelligence and someone who isn't afraid to think "out of the box" which is also definitely Gingrich.
Finally, there's the nature of the game itself. The nature of the game suggests that Romney would prefer to have anybody but Newt in second place which is why you see the majority of Romney's fire directed solely at Gingrich. There's a reason why Romney doesn't feel threatened by Santorum or Perry or Paul, because they aren't a threat to his candidacy. Gingrich is the only real obstacle in Romney's path to victory and he knows it. So do many of us.
The opposite is not true. While yes, depending on the poll, more people like Gingrich as their first choice than Santorum, Santorum dominates the head to head. Thus both are true.
I ought to save that post, just to prove how delusional a bug-eyed supporter can be. I hardly know where to start, your post is so illogical.
Do they pass out something a bit stronger than coffee and donuts at Santorum Central, or are you guys just so sleep deprived, that you no longer have any control over what you're saying?
Yumpin' Yiminy....
Deeper? Like in your navel? Boy, oh boy...
Just look at the PPP cross tabs. It’s all there.
I can point you to the right direction. What more can I say?
Please don't. I'm not interested in following you into whatever delusional place you're in.
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