[Updated at 11:32 a.m. ET] Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsing Newt Gingrich.
Perry said there was "no viable path forward" for his campaign. He said Gingrich has the "heart of a conservative reformer."
Newt Gingrich is "honored to have the support of Gov. Perry," he said on Twitter on Thursday. "I humbly ask his supporters to join our campaign so we can defeat Obama."
[Initial post, 9:23 a.m. ET] Rick Perry is telling supporters that he will drop his bid Thursday for the Republican presidential nomination, two sources familiar with his plans told CNN.
The Texas governor will make the announcement before the CNN debate in South Carolina, the sources said.
The South Carolina primary takes place Saturday.
Perry had poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, and had said he would launch a bid to win in South Carolina
READ FULL POLITICAL TICKER POSTCNN examines three statements by Republican presidential candidates during Monday night's Fox News-Wall Street Journal debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Romney on releasing his tax returns
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he probably would release a tax return in April - though he declined to commit - asserting that recent GOP nominees waited until tax season in election years.
Romney's statement about his tax return came after Texas Gov. Rick Perry pushed him to release his tax information, saying his was already out.
"Mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money, and I think that's a fair thing," Perry said.
There's nothing better than politicians who are secure enough to make fun of themselves, especially this winter when tensions are high among the Republican presidential candidates. "The Late Show with David Letterman" seems to be a popular place to let the rest of the country know that they don't take themselves too seriously.
'It's a hairpiece' - Monday night, Mitt Romney visited Letterman to share the top ten things "he'd like to say with the American people."
Brain freeze -Â In November, Rick Perry stopped by "The Late Show" to share his top ten excuses for his now-infamous brain freeze.
The 9-9-9 plan - Before Herman Cain suspended his presidential campaign, he took advice from Letterman on his 9-9-9 plan.
Let's face it. We've all had our flubs or gaffes or "stepped in it" before. But when you're running for president of the United States, it just seems a whole lot worse.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been the butt of just a few jokes since his failed attempt Wednesday night to name three federal agencies he'd like to get rid of. His last word on the matter has been dubbed "the 'oops' heard round the world."
Sure, many a politician before him has frozen in front of the camera, from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to former President George Bush, who stared into space in a fruitless effort to name his "biggest mistake." There's even a scientific explanation for it: a "retrieval failure" in a moment exacerbated by stress, according to The Washington Post.
Now in damage control overdrive, Perry has been trying to make people laugh with him as he smiles and jokes his way through interviews, culminating in an appearance Thursday on the Tonight Show with David Letterman.
His campaign even sought to do some fund-raising off the gaffe, encouraging supporters to send $5 for every government agency they "would like to forget."
How about you? What's been your most embarrassing pregnant pause? We promise not to tell!
The morning after a debate gaffe that many political watchers say will go down in modern political history, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said his "brain freeze" shows that he is not "the slickest politician" among the field of Republican presidential hopefuls.
During the debate in Rochester, Michigan, Wednesday night, Perry said he would eliminate three federal agencies if elected president - but he was able to name only two of them.
That produced a painful period of more than 50 seconds during which he tried in vain to remember the third federal agency that he would eliminate. It ended only after Perry conceded that he could not remember it - even after appearing to consult his notes.
"Oops," he said.
Perry addressed the gaffe Thursday on CNN's "American Morning."
"I bet there are a lot of Americans out there that would like to forget some agencies of government too," Perry quipped, smiling through the interview.
FULL STORYPresidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is taking heat from many in his own party for supporting a state policy giving in-state tuition rates to children of illegal immigrants.
But while this position may be seen as favorable for Latinos - a large majority of Texas’ illegal immigrants are Latino, with more than 60 percent of them hailing from Mexico alone, according to the Pew Hispanic Center - it hasn’t gained him much Latino support in his own state.
Almost two-thirds of Latino voters in Texas vote Democratic, and Latinos overwhelmingly vote against Perry, a Republican.
In a GOP presidential debate last month, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney criticized Perry for supporting Texas’ illegal-immigrant tuition policy. Perry responded this way: “If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state … by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.”
After the debate, Perry fell from frontrunner status.
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