The Perry Train is pulling into South Carolina!
Question:
Why?
One of two reasons (or both), I think:
1) Perry realizes that Santorum almost winning Iowa means that, in this race, shit just doesn't make sense and that there's still a possibility he could win a state or two (which would help people forget the embarrassing debate performances and commercials, thus restoring some dignity to the Perry brand). As someone said earlier in this thread, he has the money to continue campaigning, so why not?
2) Perry's being paid off by Romney and co. to split the Tea Party vote.
If you've followed his campaign over the last few weeks, you'll notice that Perry has started to emphasize issues like school prayer, gay marriage, abortion, etc. I think this is a pretty deliberate effort on his part to appeal to voters in the Bible Belt. He believes that his schtick might be more effective in the deep South, so he's gonna take one last shot at it. It's pretty clear, however, that South Carolina is Perry's last stand. If he doesn't finish in the top 3 there, then he might as well pack it up and go back to Austin.
Ultimately, this was a wasted opportunity for Perry. I don't think people really understand how strong the anti-Romney sentiment is within many corners of the conservative movement. Perry could have been the anti-Mitt Romney. He fit the profile to a tee, in fact. But those lackluster (and that's being kind) debate performances really destroyed his campaign.
