During an address to the Eagle Forum in St. Louis this afternoon, former Texas Governor Rick Perry announced that he is suspending his presidential campaign.
From ABC News:
“We have a tremendous field – the best in a generation – so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, and as long as we listen to the grassroots, the cause of conservatism will be too.””That is why today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” he said, adding that he has “no regrets” about his run.He also took what appeared to be a veiled swipe at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. “Demeaning people of Hispanic heritage is not just ignorant, it betrays the example of Christ,” he said.In recent weeks, Perry has been particularly vocal in his criticism of the real estate mogul.Perry, who launched his campaign on June 4, has been polling in the low single digits throughout his campaign – most recently at 1 percent in the crucial first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa. He was slated to debate for the second time in the lower-tier debate on CNN next week.
A few of his fellow candidates weighed in:
This changes not only the field at large, but the nature of next week’s debate in California. Perry was slated to appear during the “early” debate alongside Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, and Lindsey Graham; now, that group is whittled down to four. No word yet on whether or not CNN will alter its format.
Twitter is turning on itself (and, occasionally, Donald Trump):
Here’s the video of his announcement:
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