How is my speaking my opinion "manipulating this election"?
You want to know what I think? I think that Rick Perry is 'manipulating' this election by remaining in the contest, after he's been numerically eliminated.
The man doesn't have a prayer of winning the nomination, and is only drawing (conservative) votes away from one of the two conservative candidates who can beat Romney.
I don't know what his purpose for staying in the race is, but I found it all too odd that the morning after he only got 5% of the Iowa vote, and then stated that he was going home to Texas to re-evaluate his campaign, he was all Gung Ho to carry on to South Carolina.
There's no guarantee that Perry's voters or Santorum's voters would go to Newt. In fact, the reality is they could go to Romney and put him over or worse, go to Paul.
I think that's an emotional response. You know Perry's supporters better than that. They're hardly the type of people who would shift their support to Mitt or Paul. If Perry's no longer in it, they're going to look for the candidate who comes closest to what they want in a president, and it sure as hell won't be Mittens or Paul.
No offense, but you're one of Perry's die-hard supporters, so your thinking about this may be colored. If you actually believe in all the things you think Perry stands for, then you need to ask him to step out of the race for the greater good.
No offense taken. I am a die-hard Perry supporter or a die-hard Santorum supporter and I'll hang on until the end. I shouldn't have to settle for a candidate because the numbers aren't there. That's not why I vote.