GOV. RICK PERRY WITHDRAWS FROM 2012 RACE

"Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Thursday, two days ahead of the South Carolina primary, and endorsed Newt Gingrich in an apparent effort to stop Mitt Romney from winning the nomination." - Daily Caller

"Perry explained today that he came to the conclusion that there was "no viable path to victory...in 2012." While undoubtedly true, given his sagging poll numbers, aides — and Perry himself — are looking at another run in 2016 or 2020." - BuzzFeed

• "Perry has not come out of the mid-single digits in South Carolina for weeks, and his debate performance on Monday was good but no game changer.  The question for Perry was why he bothered to continue at all after his expensive poor showing in Iowa and his non-entity status in New Hampshire and South Carolina." - Hot Air

Final debate before South Carolina vote

• Six takeaways: Newt Gingrich hit a question about his marital failings out of the park; Mitt Romney seemed ill-prepared for a question on his tax returns; Rick Santorum had a very good perfomance; Gingrich is prone to making grandiose statements; Ron Paul was ignored for large chunks of the debate, and small, four-man debates make for a much more detailed discussion - Politico
• "Newt ... while he performed well, he failed to outshine his competitors. Mitt Romney, in particular, was just as effective as Gingrich, at times more so, as when he accepted responsibility for being successful. My guess is that Romney won the South Carolina primary tonight." - Powerline
• "Newt needs to commune with his dictionary: He “owns” the word “grandiose,” applying it to himself in a self-congratulatory way. “Grand” is good (often), “grandiose” is bad. Newt the intellectual should know this." - Jay Nordlinger for National Review
• "Considering the extended discussions of health care overhauls and unreleased tax returns, Mitt Romney had a tough night in the final debate before Saturday’s primary." - Weekly Standard
• A+ for Newt, B for Romney and Santorum, and a C- for Paul, according to Mark Halperin

Gingrich delivers show-stopper at beginning of South Carolina debate

"Newt Gingrich turned his contempt for the media into one of his strongest performances yet. When CNN Chief National Correspondent John King opened the debate with a question about open marriage, following an interview by Gingrich's ex-wife that he had sought one, the Republican chastised him. "To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine," Gingrich told King, the moderator of the debate. Gingrich's response elicited loud applause from the audience." - CNN

Newt leads South Carolina polling

"Newtmentum is back, per Public Policy Polling: The company's second of three daily tracking polls, released tonight, shows Newt Gingrich in first place in South Carolina with 35 percent and Mitt Romney 6 points behind at 29 percent. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul were tied for third with 15 percent each." - Politico

• "Mr. Gingrich has gained ground in the polls more than Mr. Romney has lost it. Two days ago, our forecast had Mr. Gingrich with 22.6 percent of the vote, so he has gained about 11 points since then. Meanwhile, Mr. Romney’s projection has declined less than 3 points — to 33." - Nate Silver

Gingrich paid just under $1M in taxes for 2010 - USA Today

Herman Cain reappears

"The retired pizza chain executive... thrust himself back into the spotlight Wednesday with an "unconventional" endorsement in the GOP primary race. "Here is my unconventional endorsement," he said... "Not a candidate seeking the nomination, not someone that's not running. My unconventional endorsement is the people. We the people of this nation are still in charge."" - LA Times

• Herman Cain will deliver Tea Party response to the State of the Union - The Hill
• Colbert and Cain to join forces at South Carolina Rally - New York Times 

Was yesterday the most eventful day of the whole campaign?

"It was a day of split-screen viewing and almost hourly recalibration. Iowa Republicans declared former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) the new winner of their Jan. 3 caucuses, erasing Mitt Romney’s eight-vote victory. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who had one of the largest donor networks of any candidate, quit the race and endorsed former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who was gaining momentum but faced new challenges as an ex-wife accused him in two interviews of asking for an “open marriage.”" - Washington Post

David Brooks: Money didn’t make Mitt Romney. A legacy of persistence and dogged determination did.

"Is Romney a spoiled, cosseted character? Has he been corrupted by ease and luxury? The notion is preposterous. All his life, Romney has been a worker and a grinder. He earned two degrees at Harvard simultaneously (in law and business). He built a business. He’s persevered year after year, amid defeat after defeat, to build a political career. Romney’s salient quality is not wealth. It is, for better and worse, his tenacious drive — the sort of relentlessness that we associate with striving immigrants, not rich scions." - David Brooks for the New York Times

Charles Krauthammer: If Obama wins re-election, it will be because of the self-destructing Republican field

"Suddenly Romney’s wealth, practices and taxes take center stage. And why not? If leading Republicans are denouncing rapacious capitalism that enriches the 1 percent while impoverishing everyone else, should this not be the paramount issue in a campaign occurring at a time of economic distress? ... in a stroke, the Republicans have succeeded in turning a Democratic talking point — a last-ditch attempt to salvage reelection by distracting from their record — into a central focus of the nation’s political discourse." - Charles Krauthammer for the Washington Post

• "None of these issues has been answered or explained at any length, and all are good news for the Obama campaign, whose 2012 themes will center on the rich versus the rest." - Peggy Noonan in the WSJ ($)

Key message from House Republican retreat: blame Obama

"With South Carolina’s primary heating up, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) opened the party’s annual Congress of Tomorrow retreat by homing in on President Barack Obama, saying that 2012 will be all about him... Members are being instructed to keep everything they do in Congress framed as a referendum on Obama... Boehner said the party would have a renewed focus on “oversight of administration policies that are getting in the way of small-business job creation,” a sign they’ll use their agenda to jab at the president’s initiatives." - Politico

Justice Department coordinates suits with ACORN's Project Vote - Washington Examiner editorial

PIPA on life support -- is SOPA next?

"Capitol Hill’s effort to crack down on Internet piracy was hanging on for dear life Thursday after Senate leaders gave the green light to abandon ship following the Internet backlash led by Wikipedia, Google and other sites this week. The signs of distress came from the top, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released Democrats from casting their lot with the PROTECT IP Act during a procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday." - Politico

Hollywood liberals annoyed at Congress and Obama for not passing the legislation

• "[F]ormer Sen. Chris Dodd is threatening to cut off campaign funds to President Obama's re-election effort because of anger over the White House appearing to side with tech companies in a bitter fight over anti-piracy legislation... Dodd fired off a warning to Obama -- his former Senate Democratic colleague in this election year -- "don't take us for granted."" - Fox News
• "Hollywood made a power play last year to return to its Washington glory days, hiring an inside man as its new face in town – former Sen. Chris Dodd. But in his first big test as Hollywood’s top lobbyist — the battle for a pair of anti-piracy bills backed by the entertainment industry... those bills are on life support." - Politico

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