Perry cancels S.C. appearances to ‘reassess’ campaign

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has canceled three events in South Carolina today after a dismal showing in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses.

Perry finished fifth with just above 10 percent of the vote.

“With the voters decision tonight in Iowa, I decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight’s caucus (and) determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race,” Perry told supporters.

It was a dramatic change of tone for Perry, who earlier in the day had vowed to compete in South Carolina, telling CNN’s John King that “the idea that one or two states is going to decide who the next nominee for the Republican Party is, is just, you know, that – that's not reality.”

“Those folks in South Carolina, I can promise you, they're not going to buy a pig in a poke, so to speak, and a Massachusetts governor that put individual mandates in place that Obama took as the model to create ObamaCare is not going to sell in South Carolina,” Perry told King.