Texas Gov. Rick Perry (shown with wife, Anita, today in North Charleston, S.C.) is dropping out of the presidential race and will endorse Newt Gingrich, according to a campaign source. Perry, who trails GOP front-runner Mitt Romney badly and fared miserably in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, is telling supporters he will drop his bid for the nomination. Perry has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m in North Charleston, S.C. The Texas governor entered the race in August to much fanfare and immediately topped polls. But a series of disastrous debate performances, including one in which he failed to remember the three government agencies would shut down as president, left him behind the GOP pack/Alicia M. Cohn & Ian Swanson, The Hill. More here.

Question: Who will be next to drop out of GOP presidential race?

Rick Perry says he “stepped in it” when he couldn’t remember the third federal department he would cut if elected, but insisted the debate blunder wouldn’t force him out of the Republican presidential field. “Oh, shoot, no,” Perry told The Associated Press this morning, the day after making the error during a GOP debate. Asked whether his campaign, which is struggling to regain traction, could survive, Perry replied: “This ain’t a day for quitting nothing.” Perry says others have made similar mistakes and that the screw-up will humanize him. “The president of the United States said there were 57 states one time. Everybody makes mistakes,” Perry said/Associated Press. More here. (AP photo: Rick Perry is interviewed by Megyn Kelly during “America Live” on the Fox News Channel earlier today)

Question: Is it really a big deal that Gov. Perry forgot during the GOP debate one of the 3 federal departments he would cut if elected?

 Nearly 500 votes were cast in the 2011 North Idaho Straw Poll and Texas Governor Rick Perry continued his recent track record of leading the pack of 2012 Presidential Candidates with 123 votes for a commanding lead of 25% of the vote. Texas Congressman Ron Paul finished in 2nd place beating Sarah Palin, who has not announced as a candidate, by one vote 55 to 54. Congressman Paul had been in a distant 3rd place until a late surge online. The majority of the votes, over 90 %, were cast at the North Idaho Fair in August. The remaining were cast at the Website of the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans. … Michelle Bachman and Mitt Romney tied for 4th place with 39 votes and 8% each. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey came in 6th place with 25 votes just garnering 5%.: www.ReaganRepublicans.net. More here.

Question: Which surprises you more — that Perry won the presidential straw poll on the Republican side or that Hillary Clinton tied President Barack Obama with 12 votes apiece on the Democratic side?

In lecturing Texas Gov. Rick Perry about economics, conservative commentator Ben Stein of CBS News bragged that he was going to leave Perry alone “for this month and just spend it on my boat up at Lake Pendoreille (sic) in North Idaho, a mountain lake where ospreys soar and where I feel at peace.” Huckleberries’d like to think that the misspelling of Lake Pend Oreille was an editor’s error rather than one made by Stein (boring economics instructor in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Stein, after all, has spent many vacations in the Sandpoint area. Story here. (AP file photo of Ben Stein)

Question: Which local place name causes you the most problems when you try to spell it?

BEDFORD, N.H. – GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry told New Hampshire voters Wednesday that he does not believe in manmade global warming, calling it a scientific theory that has not been proven.

“I think we’re seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists that are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change,” the Texas governor said on the first stop of a two-day trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Do you think Perry's views on global warming reflect the views of many Americans?

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he came to New Hampshire immediately after launching a presidential bid Saturday in South Carolina for one reason.

He intends to compete for every vote in every state.

He may have a Southern drawl and conservative social policies, but Perry says his presidential strategy won’t ignore New Hampshire or anyplace else. Full story.

Folks are already speculating that  the race for the GOP nomination will come down to Perry and Romney. Agree or disagree?

Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle