Rick Perry to drop out Updated at 9:38 a.m. Rick Perry is dropping his bid for the Republican presidential nomination as early as today, CBS News confirms. The Texas governor is holding a press conference in North Charleston, South Carolina at 11 a.m. ET today, at which he's expected to announce his decision. Perry is expected to endorse former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Politico reports. The endorsement could give a boost to Gingrich just two days ahead of the South Carolina primary. Several new polls out of the Palmetto state show Gingrich gaining momentum there. Perry jumped into the race last August to much fanfare, immediately surging to the top of the polls. But after multiple poor debate performances and campaign flubs, his campaign quickly began to flounder. Perry finished in a disappointing fifth place in the Iowa caucuses and finished sixth in the New Hampshire primary after opting to skip campaigning in the Granite state. Even though he ceded New Hampshire to focus on the more conservative state of South Carolina, polls have shown him stuck in the single digits and in last place there. What do South Carolina voters want?