Perry Bows Out of Presidential Race
Cal Jillson, political scientist at SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, talks about whether this might have been Perry's last political campaign.
By Jim Forsyth
Governor Perry's decision today to bow out of the Presidential race is no surprise to political analysts who have followed him throughout his political career, 1200 WOAI news reports.
Cal Jillson, the dean of Texas political analysts and a professor at SMU, told 1200 WOAI news today that he never gave Perry any chance of overcoming Mitt Romney and grabbing the Republican nomination.
"Analysts and commentators have been clamoring for him to get out so he wouldn't further divide the conservative evangelical vote in South Carolina," Jillson told 1200 WOAI news.
Analysts said Perry starter strong, with a large budget and a reputation as the successful governor of the country's largest Republican state, but he could never overcome a slow start. He appeared clueless in the early debates, and damaged his standing among conservatives by attempting to defend his decision in 2003 to sign a bill that granted in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants. Perry once called opponents of that "heartless," which angered conservatives even more.
But Perry's campaign has been dead since that early November day in Michigan when he suffered from the most agonizing brain freeze in American political history, forgetting the three federal agencies that he would eliminate as President, and wrapping up his 53 second stumbling monologue with an embarrassing "oops."
Perry is endorsing Newt Gingrich, a move that Jillson says won't make much difference in the race.
"Newt is certainly happy to have it, but Governor Perry was polling at about 5.5% of the vote in South Carolina, and polling lower than that, about 5% in Florida," Jillson said.
Jillson says Perry should have withdrawn after the Iowa caucus, as his lack of support among his conservative base was evident.
Jillson does not expect Perry, who is 61, to seek another political office.