Perry says he can derail Romney in South Carolina

Shrugging off a disappointing showing in Iowa's caucuses, Rick Perry said Tuesday he would compete in South Carolina regardless of the final tallies here and bought television time to back it up.

Perry encouraged supporters to keep the faith in his national aspirations as his advisers cast the coming contest in South Carolina as the first real test of his presidential campaign. Before Iowans met at churches and schools to signal their preferences, Perry was downplaying the role of the traditional lead-off states.

"The idea that one or two states is going to decide who the next nominee for the Republican Party is just, you know, that's not reality," Perry told CNN before the caucuses began.

Perry's team planned events in South Carolina for Wednesday and hoped a jumbled pecking order would emerge from Iowa's caucuses.

"The votes are the votes, and we're still early in the night so we'll wait and see in the morning what it looks like," he told Fox News Channel from an election night party that was slow to fill with supporters.