Rick Perry, Republican Presidential Candidate | featured news

Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich, adding a fresh layer of unpredictability to the campaign two days before the South Carolina primary.

Presidential candidate Rick Perry's criticism of Mitt Romney's business past had a boomerang effect Thursday, costing him the support of a prominent Republican in South Carolina. Investment fund executive and top GOP donor Barry Wynn told The Associated Press he was leaving the Perry fold to endorse Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Wynn said Perry's attacks on Romney's time at the helm of the private equity firm Bain Capital had crossed the line in a political party that values free-market capitalism.

In the past twelve hours the six men running for the Republican presidential nomination have debated not once but twice. We live-blogged both debates — the Saturday night set-to sponsored by ABC/WMUR and the “Meet the Press” debate this morning. Below is our combined winners and losers from the two debates. Agree or disagree? That is your right; this country is all about liberty. (Ron Paul homage!) The comments section is open for business.

A determined Rick Perry announced Wednesday he will not abandon his presidential campaign despite a fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses....

After a disappointing finish in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, Rick Perry is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

After a campaign effort that has defied convention and angered top Iowa Republicans, Mitt Romney is well-positioned to emerge as a big winner in Tuesday's presidential caucuses. The tightest GOP caucus contest in decades features Romney, Ron Paul and a fading Newt Gingrich in a virtual tie for the lead, making the final days of politicking unusually consequential. And another candidate, Rick Perry or Rick Santorum, could get hot at the end and knock one of the favorites out of the top three.

Is it too late to fire the moderator? Two more Republican candidates -- Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry -- said thanks but no thanks to an invitation to participate in an Iowa debate managed by real estate mogul Donald Trump.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads GOP voters overall with 27%, but he is still having a hard time wooing conservatives, who are more enthusiastic about businessman Herman Cain. A collapse in support for Texas Gov. Rick Perry has left Mitt Romney as the clear front-runner in California's Republican presidential primary, but the former Massachusetts governor is still struggling to rally the party's most conservative voters, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll has found.

It was the Hoover Dam of mental blocks. Pundits referred to it as a “brain freeze” or a “gaffe.” In Internet parlance, it was an “epic FAIL.” But to neuroscientists, what happened to Texas Gov. Rick Perry Wednesday night looked like something very ordinary, exacerbated by stress: a “retrieval failure.”

Rick Perry gives his Top 10 excuses for a huge debate gaffe on the Late Show with David Letterman.