NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Texas Gov. Rick Perry ended his campaign for president Thursday morning and endorsed Newt Gingrich.

“I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform this country,” Perry said.

The Texan obliquely referred to Gingrich's checkered personal life just hours before an interview with the former House speaker's second wife was to speak out in a TV interview.

“Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?” said Perry.

Citing his Christian faith, Perry said of Gingrich: “I believe in the power of redemption.”

Perry kept an upbeat note as he ended his campaign. He talked about his plan for jobs, his commitment to conservative principles and his roots in Paint Creek, Texas. He thanked his staff, supporters and family throughout the event.

“I began this race with a sense of calling — I felt led into the arena to fight for the future of this country. I feel no different than i did then, knowing the calling never represents a particular outcome,” Perry said. He added that he'll head back to Texas “not discouraged nor disenchanted, but instead rewarded by the experience and resolute to remain in the service of our country.”

“I'm not done fighting for the cause of conservatism,” Perry said. “As a matter of fact, I have just begun to fight.”

Gingrich will be hoping the move gives him a boost as tries to consolidate conservative support ahead of Saturday's primary, aiming to unite the voters who had been splitting between him, Perry and Rick Santorum.

Gingrich has been assiduously lobbying Perry officials in recent days, POLITICO has learned. The former House speaker has repeatedly texted Perry manager Joe Allbaugh.

Sources confirm Gingrich and Perry met privately yesterday to discuss the exit and endorsement. Both attended the Personhood USA antoi-abortion presidential forum in Greenville on Wednesday night.

Perry, however, did not make the decision about exiting the race until the morning.

But the discord within the Perry campaign was evident even as the candidate prepared to drop out. Top officials in Texas said they were unaware of his intentions and as late as this morning said they genuinely didn't know whether he was still running.

Gingrich did not attend the Perry press conference, but at a separate event, praised Perry and said he was “very honored and very humbled” to have the support.

“He's been a great patriot. He understands the mission of defending freedom,” Gingrich said at a Beaufort town hall.

Gingrich said he spoke with Perry Thursday morning and asked him to head a 10th Amendment enforcement group. He's asking him to reach out to governors and lawmakers to develop legislation to strengthen the states' rights.

In a statement released by his campaign, Gingrich pushed for help from Perry voters, too.

“I ask the supporters of Governor Perry to look at my record of balancing the budget, cutting spending, reforming welfare, and enacting pro-growth policies to create millions of new jobs and humbly ask for their vote,” Gingrich said.

Perry has been unpredictable before — back in Texas to reassess his campaign's viability following his fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Perry surprised even many in his inner circle by personally tweeting a message saying he was staying in the race, and heading to South Carolina to campaign.

Since the weekend before the New Hampshire primary, he had been on a retail campaign through the state, making multiple appearances per day and continuing to rail against his rivals — particularly Mitt Romney, whom he attacked for “vulture capitalism” at Bain Capital and not releasing his tax returns, among other things.

Romney shrugged off the news about Perry's decision when asked about it after a rally at his campaign headquarters in Charleston Thursday morning.

“He's a great man. He made a real contribution. He already has to his state and to our country,” Romney said.


Then Romney walked away when asked about Perry backing Gingrich.

Later, Romney's campaign released a statement saying Perry “ran a campaign based upon love of country and conservative principles. He has earned a place of prominence as a leader in our party … The nation owes Governor Perry a debt of gratitude for his years of service to his state and country. I wish Anita and him well.”

But he failed to generate much enthusiasm or momentum. A POLITICO poll of likely South Carolina voters released Thursday showed him at the back of the pack, at 4 percent, with Romney ahead of Gingrich 37-30 percent. The poll found Ron Paul at 11 percent and Rick Santorum at 10 percent.

It's been a steep fall for Perry, who launched his bid here on Aug. 13 amid high expectations for his candidacy and the belief among political observers that he'd quickly become the new frontrunner. He announced his candidacy at the RedState convention here the same day as the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.

His candidacy sent shock waves through the GOP field, stomping on Michele Bachmann's victory lap after her straw poll win. At the time, it didn't seem to matter that Perry had entered the race fairly late — throughout August, he continued to climb in the polls.

But Perry's first round of debates in September provided the candidate's first big stumbles — the Texas governor often appeared lethargic and couldn't deliver even his most practiced lines. His position on tuition tax breaks for children of illegal immigrants, and a Texas mandate that forced girls to get the HPV vaccine caused further problems for Perry, but he finished September with a strong third-quarter fundraising haul of $17 million.

The final nail in the coffin for Perry as a serious contender, many say, and the date his fundraising began to dry up, was his disastrous “oops” moment at the CNBC debate in Rochester, Mich. Perry struggled for almost a minute to name the third federal department he'd abolish as president.

“I can't,” he finally said, visibly exasperated, after his fellow candidates had tried to help him find the answer. “Oops.”

Since then, Perry has aggressively worked to regain his former stature in the polls with little success. He went on the air heavily in Iowa before the state's Jan. 3 caucuses, running more than 10 ads and spending almost $3 million on ad buys in December alone. But Perry finished fifth in the caucuses with 10 percent — ahead of only Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman, both of whom have already ended their respective bids for president.

After his disappointing finish in Iowa, Perry announced he would “reassess” his candidacy that week and make a decision on whether to proceed. He announced, via a tweet — “Here we come South Carolina!”, accompanied with a photo of Perry in jogging clothes — that he'd continue on to South Carolina, and ended up skipping New Hampshire altogether. He finished last there on Jan. 10 with less than 1 percent of the vote.

But if South Carolina was to be Perry's last stand, it also disappointed. As social conservatives try to mount a real challenge to Romney in the state, many have defected to Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich — both seen as more viable candidates at this stage in the race than Perry. A South Carolina state senator who had previously backed Perry's campaign, Larry Grooms, defected to Santorum earlier this week.

By Wednesday, prominent conservatives were calling for Perry to exit the race. Even Erick Erickson, the RedState founder who helped usher Perry's candidacy in in August, wrote today that Perry's “campaign has come to an end” and urged him to back another candidate before Saturday's primary.

The Perry campaign began canceling events Wednesday and Thursday as the candidate failed to gain traction and drew only small crowds.

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