Rick Perry exits ’16 GOP race

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS

Out of money and relegated once again to the back-of-the-pack debate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday dropped out of the race for president, ending his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination and becoming the first major candidate of the 2016 campaign to give up on the White House.

The longest-serving governor in Texas history, who had never lost an election until he started running for president, told a group of conservative activists in St. Louis that “some things have become clear” and that it was time to suspend his campaign.

“We have a tremendous field of candidates – probably the greatest group of men and women,” Perry said. “I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, as long as we listen to the grass roots, listen to that cause of conservatism. If we do that, then our party will be in good hands.”

Four years ago, Perry’s first bid for the White House essentially collapsed after a GOP debate in which he couldn’t remember the name of the third federal agency he’d wanted to close if elected – he was only able to mutter “Oops.” This time around, he couldn’t win enough support in early polls to even qualify for the party’s prime-time debates, finding himself relegated instead to second-stage affairs.

After kicking off his bid in early June, Perry announced raising about $1 million during the first month of his campaign. That wasn’t enough to keep the small staffs he had assembled in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as at his headquarters in Texas, on the payroll.