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After a disappointing fifth-place finish in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he is going home to Texas to assess "whether there is a path forward for myself in this race." "With the voters' decision tonight in Iowa, I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," Perry told supporters at the end of the night. The candidate, once considered a frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination, earned just 10 percent on Tuesday's contest with more

DES MOINES – Presidential contender Rick Perry said there are eight Supreme Court justices, not nine, and flubbed Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s (SOHN’-ya soh-toh-my-YOR’) name in an editorial board meeting at The Des Moines Register. Perry met with the board Friday. He struggled for six seconds to come up with Sotomayor’s name, then initially called the justice “Montemayor.” A member of the newspaper’s editorial board helped him out with the correct name.

AMHERST - Winning the endorsement of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Tuesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry echoed his stance on illegal immigration today in the Granite State, saying he would support a federal law to "detain and deport every illegal alien that we apprehend." During a morning campaign stop at Joey’s Diner, the presidential candidate said he would end the current catch-and-release policy that cuts loose nonviolent illegal immigrants. Calling the policy "horrific," Perry said the future of America depends on the security of its borders. If elected, Perry said that one year after his inauguration the border with Mexico...

BETTENDORF, Iowa - An early copy of Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's government reform speech shared with the Des Moines Register shows the Texas governor is planning to propose widespread changes for the federal government, including term limits on federal judges and Supreme Court justices, a part-time Congress, and laws criminalizing insider trading. The governor first previewed the reforms in a speech Monday evening at an event by the Scott County Republican Party, where he said, "Washington doesn't need a new coat of paint, it needs a complete overhaul." Today, he will deliver the details of his plan in a...

BETTENDORF, Iowa — Gov. Rick Perry is proposing to bring a little Texas to Washington — with a “part-time citizen Congress” that doesn’t meet so often, and whose members earn only half of what they make now. The Republican presidential hopeful will also call for an end to lifetime appointments for federal judges, including members of the U.S. Supreme Court. And, as he proposed in his famous debate-night flub last week, Perry will vow to shut down three agencies of government. This time he will remember all three: the U.S. Departments of Education, Commerce and Energy. “Washington doesn’t need a...

The five reasons I asserted that Governor Perry would have the best shot at beating Obama were simple ones: He decisively created more jobs than Obama. He greatly respects and tries to encourage small businesses. He has a clear understanding of federalism and what states shouldn't be forced into. He has solid core convictions that replicate most of America. And he could unite the core conservative Democrats, Republicans and Independents across the nation on economic, social and defense policy. All five of those reasons remain -- even now -- solidly relevant and valid. However, he's certainly nowhere near where I...

By facing the issue and joking about it, Perry frames his gaffe as a funny moment rather than a serious, and seriously stupid, one. He takes control of the discussion. Every minute he's on the air being interviewed about it is one more minute his moment isn't being replayed, one more minute some panel of pundits isn't fretfully analyzing its stupendous terribleness. By allowing his memory glitch to be the topic of discussion and owning up to it, he helps exhaust the subject. Most of all, Perry is being humanized, albeit not in the way any politician would wish. For...

After debate flub, Perry recalls Britney Spears song ‘Oops!…I Did It Again’ Caroline May November 10, 2011 ....On Laura Ingraham’s radio show Thursday, Perry sheepishly recalled the incident explaining it was a “brain freeze” that felt hours long. “A brain freeze for 54 seconds, it seemed like 54 hours. Listen, I stepped in it and I’m still wiping it off my boots,” he said. “You know I think a bunch of Americans would be pretty happy to forget big chunks of the federal government.” Perry said that it is always good to laugh at your flubs and with that in...

he Perry campaign wants to reboot, having retooled and refined its message and tried hard to get back on the jobs message. Okay, fine, but first the Perry camp needs to answer a basic question — why should supporters who went all in for him and wound up feeling burned give him a second shot? I asked him about that and it was, perhaps, a good sign that he stayed on the jobs message. The jobs message, though, raises a question about his flat tax — won't it just help the rich? Also, what about President Obama's approach and his...

Cain 37% Romney 27% Ron Paul 12% Perry 6% 86% say they're somewhat or very satisfied with the current GOP field. Univ of Iowa Poll Press Release 102111

Texas governor meeting Friday with Washington insiders after big fundraising dropoff. By Reid Wilson and Peter Bell Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his presidential campaign with an aggressive fundraising schedule that quickly made him a front-runner for the Republican nomination. But reports his campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission show that his ability to attract big money fell off steeply in September—perhaps not coincidentally—at the same time a series of rocky debate performances threatened his early front-runner status. As Perry arrives on Friday in Washington for a private meeting with K Street insiders, the question is whether he...

Last month, Insider Advantage had him leading Romney in the state 29/20. A month later, “He now barely has a heartbeat.” When I saw Perry’s topline number of three percent, I figured the “Ponzi scheme” talk must have sent Florida’s seniors running screaming into the night. Not so. He’s actually doing (marginally) worse with other age demographics in this poll, and in the last poll he did reasonably well with the 65+ crowd, finishing second to Romney in that group with almost 23 percent. That poll was taken on September 13, which was almost a week after Romney started attacking...

HANOVER, N.H. -- After a two-hour debate on the economy, earnest GOP operatives headed straight to the spin room to tout the merits of their respective candidates. As for Texas Gov. Rick Perry,he headed straight to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. "Debates are not my strong suit," Perry told about 100 fraternity brothers gathered to see him at the house, a few blocks from the debate site on the campus of Dartmouth College. No keg stands were in view.

Mitt Romney began his presidential campaign in an enviable position. Amid a weak field of other Republican candidates, Romney enjoyed consistently high polling numbers while being figured by the media as one of the only “serious” contenders for nomination. With the continuing litany of gaffes from Texas Gov. Rick Perry seeming to doom his potential “white knight” bid, and with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announcing that he has no intention of pursuing the presidency, Romney has endured. Romney’s eligibility has never been in serious doubt. He has held all the right offices. He enjoys national name recognition, courtesy, for...

Texas governor wins standing ovation at Washington conference with forceful pitches on jobs and America's place in the world. Texas governor Rick Perry won several standing ovations at a conservative conference in Washington on Friday that marked the start of a fightback in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Perry needed a good reaction after seeing his poll ratings drop sharply after poor debate performances last month. He and the other Republican presidential candidates are speaking at the annual conference of the Family Research Council, which promotes traditional marriage. A straw poll of the candidates is being conducted, with...

A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter. Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million. That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race. The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92...

EXCLUSIVE: Republican White House hopeful Rick Perry raised over $17 million in 49 days, DRUDGE has learned. $347,000 per day; 20,000 unique donors from all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam. With more than half of donors living outside of Texas... Developing...

After weeks of uneven debate performances and criticism over his stance on illegal immigrants and vaccinations, former GOP presidential front-runner Rick Perry tied for second place with Herman Cain in a Washington Post/ABC News poll out Tuesday. Both took 16%, trailing former Mr. Romney who continues to have the backing of a quarter of GOP primary voters. The same survey last month showed Texas Gov. Perry leading former Massachusetts Gov. Romney 29% to 25%. It’s the second national poll in a week showing Mr. Romney moving back into first as Mr. Perry’s new-candidate shine has begun to wear off. (The...

This is from a national poll before Florida's recent poll which showed Perry plummeting even further: In early September, Perry had a 3-to-1 advantage over any other candidate among those “strongly” backing the tea party, but his support has plummeted from 45 percent to 10 percent in this group. .

WASHINGTON – Carlos Martinez Gutierrez got caught smuggling three Mexican children into California. Now, his travails have reached the U.S. Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the court agreed to hear Gutierrez's case, which raises questions potentially crucial for other children of illegal immigrants. If Gutierrez wins, some immigrants may find it easier to avoid removal and stay in the United States. "The case is significant," Gutierrez's appellate attorney, Stephen Kinnaird, said Tuesday, adding that "you can have possible breakups of families" in certain circumstances. Gutierrez's attempted alien smuggling through the San Ysidro port of entry in December 2005 does not, by...