After months in which the field of Republicans kept growing and growing, today, it finally got a little smaller. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry said on Friday that he's suspending his campaign for the White House, making him the first candidate to drop out. He made the announcement at the Eagle Forum in Iowa.
After a disastrous presidential campaign in 2012 (in which he infamously once said he wanted to shut down three government agencies, and then forgot the third during a live debate), Perry jumped in this time hoping to do better. But the summer of Donald Trump was too powerful for him. Not only did Perry struggle to raise enough money to keep campaign staff in major primary states, Trump lured away one of Perry's top political advisors at the end of August.
With Perry out, there are now 15 Republican candidates for President. A few have managed to hold their own against Trump's onslaught of insults, but most have struggled to get attention. Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal are polling at only 2%, so unless there is a major shake-up at the next Republican debate, they could be joining Perry in the "former candidate" camp soon.
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