SOLVED!
[Blind Gossip] This Republican Presidential Candidate may be the first one out of the race!
He’s been through this before and he knows he’s done. The polls, the debate, the donations – none of it’s good. Staff morale is low. Unless there’s some miracle, he’s going to pull the plug [on the campaign] by the end of September.
Republican Candidate:
[Optional] Which Candidate are you pulling for?
SOLVED!
Republican Candidate: Rick Perry
Source: CNN
Governor Rick Perry of Texas became the first Republican Presidential Candidate to drop out of the race.
Perry did not do well during the first debate, referring to Ronald Reagan as “Ronald Raven.” He ran out of money and stopped paying his staffers. His finances were so weak that he couldn’t even hang in there until the second debate. He formally pulled the plug on the campaign on September 11, 2015, exactly one month after we originally ran this item.
From CNN:
Rick Perry drops out of presidential race
Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who insisted he learned lessons from his disastrous 2012 presidential campaign, dropped his second bid for the White House on Friday after just 100 days.
“Today, I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Perry said in an address in St. Louis that virtually mirrored his standard stump speech until the very end. “Life is good. I am a blessed man.”
The departure of Perry, who had little support in early-voting states or among the GOP donor class, is unlikely to alter the contours of the Republican race. But Perry nevertheless implored his supporters in an email to back a candidate who embodies the principles of conservatism.
“The conservative movement has always been about principles, not personalities,” Perry said, before making a not-too-veiled swipe at Donald Trump, the GOP’s current front-runner. “Our nominee should embody those principles. He — or she — must make the case for the cause of conservatism more than the cause of their own celebrity.”
For almost two years, the swaggering Texan had prepared and studied for a second shot at the presidency. But in a 17-candidate field, Perry found himself weakened by fundraisers who ditched him for his rivals and by top surrogates who defected as his campaign crumbled. He raised only about $1 million in the first fundraising quarter, and he never had enough supporters for him to earn a spot in the premier GOP debates. Back in Texas, he remained under indictment on an abuse-of-power charge.
And as it became increasingly clear that the campaign wouldn’t be able to overcome deep financial problems that left him without enough money to win a competitive race, he became the first GOP candidate to leave it.
Still, Perry’s exit still comes surprisingly early. He was scheduled to appear next week at CNN’s Republican debate, which his allies hoped would be a turning point for his troubled campaign. His super PAC sat on more than $17 million that it was investing in Iowa to fill the void created by his Austin-based campaign as its financial difficulties mounted.
Some of his top supporters expressed shock that Perry bowed out so early. David Johnson, an Iowa state senator and the candidate’s top backer in the Hawkeye State, said Perry may have prematurely pulled the plug.
Since Perry’s announcement, Scott Walker has also dropped out of the race.
Congratulations to Bmj524 for being first with the correct answer!