Rick Perry Abandons Presidential Run

The GOP clown car - or perhaps we should say bus - has one less occupant.  Rick Perry, who I have always seen as dangerous and delusional has called it quits.   Apparently, outside of Texas, few want was Perry was trying to sell and he has grasp that reality even if on almost every other issue he is out of touch with objective reality. Now we just need to dump the remaining clown car occupants.   Politico looks at Perry's demise.  Here are highlights:  

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign, becoming the first Republican to drop out of the race and kicking off the winnowing stage of the crowded GOP contest.

"We have a tremendous field—the best in a generation—so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands," Perry said at a conservative conference in St. Louis.

The longest-serving governor in Texas history, Perry had never lost a race in his home state in his three-decades-long career, making his stumbles in the national spotlight this year, and during his ill-fated 2012 bid, all the more humbling. 

As a titan in the Texas political arena, Perry entered the 2012 GOP primary as the frontrunner, only to watch his campaign implode amid a series of high-profile missteps. In an attempt at political redemption, the former governor spent close to two years traveling and studying up on policy issues in the run-up to 2016, seeking to rehabilitate his tarnished image. But the spectacular nature of his 2012 collapse proved difficult to overcome and he struggled to remain relevant. Fundraising was a challenge, and he failed to gain traction in the polls despite spending significant time in the early states, especially Iowa, and despite the assistance of a well-funded super PAC.

Perry began alerting donors and supporters as early as Thursday that he was planning to drop out, said Doug Deason, son of Texas billionaire Darwin Deason, who gave $5 million to Perry's super PAC. The Deasons received a call from Perry on Thursday alerting them to his move, and they plan to watch the field play out further before committing.

By this week, he was down to one paid staffer in Iowa, one in South Carolina and none in New Hampshire. He was foundering in the polls after failing to qualify for the main stage debate in the first GOP primary contest and his weak polling support had once again relegated him to the second-tier debate next week.

My view?  Good riddance! I have long though Perry a dangerous buffoon.