Perry's been in the race since June, and has steadily lost ground the entire time. He's lost 22% off his initial high, which means that those voters walked from him and chose another candidate (the undecideds are a pretty small group at this point).
Perry has to win all those people back, and more, if he wants to be a contender again. So far, I don't see any evidence that he can. Every time he slips on his own tongue, his remaining supporters make excuses for him and say, "watch - he'll do better next time."
Well, that hasn't come to pass. He keeps failing to impress in these debates, and it's killing him.
Hiding out during the holidays isn't going to help his numbers. The other candidates will all be out there getting as much face time as possible, and he'll have to do the same, if he has any hope of regaining any of his lost ground.
Unless he can find some sort of other venue where he shines as bright as the sun, he's on a fool's errand.
OK, but if you’ve been around Texas for long, you know he doesn’t pick battles he don’t think he can win.
He’s not the type to run for POTUS so he can brag about it, and you know it. He’d only do it if the math supported the move.
And he has (pre-America) Ancient Establishment against him, he knows it yet he presses. Texas IS a whole ‘nother country, always has been, and has always used its trade advantages to tell DC how and where to stick it (if you don’t count the ‘re-construction’).