After a 5th place Iowa Finish, Perry finishes 6th in NH. Perry recieved 0.7% of the vote, edgeding out Buddy Roemer (who had 0.4% of the vote), and soundly beating Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain (who each had 0.1% of the vote respectivily). Perry well under 1/10th of the vote that Santorum and Gingrich got. Perry is well behind Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul in SC. He is at 5% on all 3 polls on RCP.
Perry is now also behind Gingrich and Santorum in money. Both Gingrich and Santorum have super PAC support + their own cash on hand that is now at-least double what Perry has on hand.
Perry also lacks momentum.
Perry has not gotten a significant major endorsement since Iowa, and is bleeding supporters daily.
Finally, Gov. Perry continues hurt himself just about every time he speaks. He has claimed there were 8, not 9, Supreme Court Justices. He plans to move troops back into Iraq. He plans to freeze pay for critical national security possitions where DOD has already reported difficulty recruting and retaining qualified personnel. He has said that anyone who does not want to use government money to pay for college for illegals is heartless. He could not remember the 3 departments he wanted to cut.
And yet some Perry supporters fill 1/2 the blog with posts about how Perry has a chance. A month ago these posts all cited wins in Iowa. 2 weeks ago, the posts cited a 3rd place finish. Perry placed 5th in Iowa and 6th in NH. For all intensive purposes he is now competing with Huntsman for 5th place in SC. I have no doubt the Perry devotees –the very ones who long claimed Perry would win SC — will soon start spinning a 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th place finish as a momentum boosting win for Perry. Perhaps, they will even go so far as to suggest that getting more than 0.7% of the vote suggests momentum.
Momentum for Huntsman, and the fact that Gingrich, Santorum, Paul, and Romney will actually each individually outspend Perry in SC, and the current polling numbers suggest Perry could finish 6th in SC.
If Perry does place 5th or 6th in SC, his already hurt reputation would be destroyed.
