Texas Gov. Rick Perry will abandon his presidential bid and endorse Newt Gingrich, two Republican officials said Thursday, a move coming just two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary as Republican front-runner Mitt Romney struggles to fend off a challenge from the former House speaker.
Perry scheduled a news conference Thursday morning at a hotel in North Charleston to announce his decision.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement.
First, a moment to marvel at the inanities of journalistic convention: the sources did pre-empt the announcement, anonymous or not.
Second, and more substantively, Perry’s endorsement sharpens the choice for Republicans between more extremist Gingrich and Santorum, more moderate Romney, and Paul, who is running in the late 19th century and thus not directly relevant. Gingrich says only an extremist can defeat Obama:
“If I don’t win the primary Saturday, we will probably nominate a moderate,” the former House speaker said, referring to Mitt Romney. “And the odds are fairly high he will lose to Obama.”
By this logic, Perry’s decision improves the Republican chances for victory in November. Personally, I think Gingrich is talking from self-interest, not reality. In my opinion, Romney will be a much tougher candidate for Obama to beat.
long2024 says
I had a wtf moment when I read the thing about pre-empting the announcement.
Though I suppose as far as inane journalistic conventions go, this is one of the less harmful. Pretending climate change deniers have a legitimate point is a bit worse.
I’d argue Perry is a lot more electable than he gets credit for (debate performance can be fixed with practice and the fundamentals are as sound). But I agree on Gingrich vs. Romney. Nobody likes Romney, but they don’t really dislike him either. Gingrich’s personal life is as nutty as his platform, so he’s easy to dislike.
long2024 says
not “as sound”