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Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry pauses during a news conference in North Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, where he announced he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich.

Two days before the South Carolina primary, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination and endorsing rival Newt Gingrich.

"As a Texan, I've never shied away from a fight," Perry said. He added, though, "I know when it’s time to make a strategic retreat."

A slew of polls in the last day and a half have shown Perry in a distant fourth place in South Carolina, in single digits.

Perry burst out of the gate in August when he announced he was running for president. He jumped out to big leads nationally, but saw a rapid collapse in those same polls after a series of disappointing debate performances.

Notably, in a CNBC debate in Michigan, he forgot three agencies he would cut. "Oops," he said after realizing he could not recall the three. Perry tried to laugh it off, going on the late-night talk shows, but he never recovered, finishing fifth in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

"I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me," Perry said before throwing his support to Gingrich.

"I believe Newt is a conservative visionary, who can transform our country," Perry said.

Gingrich today is dealing with an explosive interview conducted by ABC News with Gingrich's ex-wife, Marianne, who claimed Gingrich wanted an "open marrage." Perry seemed to allude to what many on the trail and in ads have referred to as that "baggage."

"Newt is not perfect," Perry said, "but who among us is. There is forgiveness for those who seek God. I believe in the power of redemption. ... He has the heart of a conservative reformer."

Perry concluded, "This I know, I'm not done fighting for the cause of conservativism. As a matter of fact, I have just begun to fight."

A federal appeals court has rejected Rick Perry's request for an emergency order to put his name on the primary election ballot in Virginia.

Following the reasoning of the federal judge who rejected Perry's request last week, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said Perry "had every opportunity to challenge the various Virginia ballot requirements at a time when the challenge would not have created the disruption that this last-minute lawsuit has."

The Supreme Court, today's ruling says, has repeatedly urged that judges not "upend the orderly progression of state electoral processes at the eleventh hour."

Allowing Perry to pursue his complaint now, about the process for gathering signatures on petitions to qualify for the ballot "would not be fair to the states or to other candidates who did comply with the prescribed process in a timely manner, and it would throw the presidential nominating process into added turmoil," the court said.

"I am pleased with the Fourth Circuit ruling and that Virginia's orderly election process will be able to move forward," said Virginia’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, who defended the state’s balloting system in court.

NBC's Carrie Dann has the response from Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan:

"We are proud to fight for the rights of Virginia voters to be able to make a meaningful decision and cast their ballots for the candidate of their choice. This appellate ruling only affirms the trial court's assertion that the state's process of printing ballots should not be disrupted. An orderly ballot access process is important, but of little significance if viable candidates are unconstitutionally kept off the ballot. The trial judge's holding that the statute is unconstitutional is not disturbed. Gov. Perry is weighing options for appeal."

The State Department “absolutely and fundamentally” disagrees with Gov. Rick Perry’s statement in last night’s debate that Turkey is ruled “by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.” Responding to a question from host Bret Baier asking if Turkey should continue to be a member of NATO, Perry also questioned the country’s membership in the alliance.

“When you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists," Perry said, "when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes, not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it's time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it."

While the State Department generally does not get into the substance of campaign politics, even when candidates weigh in on foreign policy, spokesman Mark Toner answered reporters’ questions on Perry’s comment. Toner reaffirmed the U.S.’s close relationship with Turkey and called the country a “stalwart ally” in NATO.

“We absolutely and fundamentally disagree with that assertion," Toner said. "It [Turkey] continues to play a very positive and constructive role in the region. And it is often cited as an example of a so-called Islamic democracy in action."

The Turks themselves had harsh words for Perry. In a scathing statement, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States expressed his disappointment and concern over Perry’s comments, calling them “misplaced” and “ill-advised.” The ambassador also said Turkey receives no significant foreign aid from the U.S.

“The Turkey described in the debate simply does not exist," Ambassador Namik Tan said. "Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the U.S. Our bilateral relations are based on the common values of democracy and respect for human rights, rule of law, and free-market economy."

Today, Perry did not back down, per NBC's Carrie Dann.

“I stand by my statement," he said. "You need to be putting protections in place for your citizens if you’re seeing those types of attacks against, particularly, well, particularly females."

MASON CITY, Iowa -- Rick Perry made a positive impression on undecided voters gathered here at this modest country club amid farmlands and an industrial railroad across the street.

First Read spoke with more than half a dozen of the 50 people here for dinner and a county GOP fundraiser. None of those half a dozen or so were decided -- and it could be shaping up to be a race for third place In Iowa between Perry and Rick Santorum.

“I was principally Santorum before tonight,” said Martha Pauley, of Clear Lake, here with her husband, Don. She said it was the first time she’d heard Perry and likes him. “I’m going to take a close look at him.”

Bev Lunsman, of Mason City, who was seated at the Pauleys’ dinner table, said it’s between Santorum and Perry for her also. “Both are really solid conservatives,” she said.

Don Pauley, who was wearing a Perry sticker – one given out on the way in -- said he’s undecided, but now “would consider him” [Perry] after his speech tonight. The speech was unremarkable for a Perry speech, hitting on many of the same notes he normally does.

But Lunsman, for example, said she was impressed with his tone. “He’s a straight talker,” she said. (All three said they liked Herman Cain. “Herman Cain is everything Obama’s not,” Lunsman said.)

“I like his values,” Don said.

The Pauleys said they caucused in 2008 for Michele Bachmann, despite her not running that year and Mike Huckabee, who won the state and this county, Cerro Gordo (translated, it mean colloquially "big shot" and literally "fat hill or mountain"), that year.

But this year, they’re not voting for Bachmann because they don’t see her as presidential. Bachmann likes to compare herself to Margaret Thatcher, but Don and Martha disagreed, saying she hadn’t won statewide and didn’t have the experience.

Don was blunter: “She’s not old enough. Give her 10 years.”

(Bachmann is 55. Santorum is younger. He’s 53.)

Another couple, Burt and Barbara Tekippe, both of Mason City, said coming in, they were undecided between Gingrich, Romney, and Perry – though they were leaning toward crossing Gingrich off their list. After tonight, though, Gingrich was eliminated in their minds. And Barbara was sold: “I’ve made up my mind,” she said affirmatively, saying the final decision for her was about abortion and a moment that highlighted that tonight.

A woman stood up and said she had an abortion when she was 18 before she “found the Lord.” She said she regretted it after having a child years later. She endorsed Perry, who gave her a hug after she spoke.

“That was it for me,” Barbara said.

For his part, Burt was still torn between Romney and Perry. He said he likes Romney’s business experience, but worries he’s not conservative enough. But he said he thought Perry had spent too much time in government.

“I like what he did in Texas,” Barbara interjected, directing her comment to her husband, who smiled.

Each Iowan said they would decide in the next couple of days – and maybe even on caucus night.

With a notepad full of notes she’d taken from various candidates she’d heard, Jodee Jones, of Mason City, said, she’ll listen to those that speak for the candidates on caucus night and is open to being convinced. 

“Someone might say something that makes you think, ‘Well, I didn’t think of that,’” she said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post had the incorrect translation of "Cerro Gordo.")

OSCEOLA, Iowa -- In what the Texas governor calls a  "transformation," Rick Perry on Tuesday said that he has reversed his acceptance of abortion in some severe circumstances, saying that he now opposes the procedure even in cases of rape and incest.

Perry said the change came after seeing the "Gift of Life" film produced by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. He told an audience of Iowans at Clark Electric Co-op in Osceola that he was moved by the story of a woman who introduced the film during a screening earlier this month in Des Moines.

"She said, 'I am the product of rape.' And she said 'my life has worth,'" Perry said of his exchange with the woman. "It was a powerful moment."

The Texas governor made the statement in response to a question from Joshua Verwers, a pastor at Full Faith Christian Center in Chariton, who noted that Perry had recently signed a stringent Personhood USA pledge that urges signatories to oppose abortion "without exception and without compromise."

Candidates Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have also signed the pledge.

Verwers said after the event that he was initially skeptical of Perry's flip on the position but that the governor's answer was "too perfect" and "sincere" to have come from anywhere but Perry's own heart.

"I do believe it was a sincere answer and that he has converted his position and that he would support personhood," the pastor told reporters.

Charlie Riedel / AP

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a campaign stop at the Main Street Cafe in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Tuesday.

After failing to secure a spot in Virginia's presidential primary, the presidential campaign of Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday filed a federal court challenge to the state's stringent ballot access rules.

Perry was one of several candidates, including Newt Gingrich, who failed to gather 10,000 individual voters' signatures by Friday's deadline. 

"We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support," said Perry communications director Ray Sullivan in a statement. 

Perry's lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a state law that says those who circulate petitions to get a candidate on the ballot must be eligible, or registered, to vote in the state. Perry claims that requirement violates his freedom of speech and association.

He also challenges another provision of Virginia law that requires that a portion of signatures for statewide candidates must come from each congressional district in the state. Those signers must attest that they intended to vote in the primary of the candidate's political party.

Perry's campaign notes that other states' laws similar to Virginia's ban on out-of-state petition circulators have been struck down by federal courts.

One of the nation's leading experts on election law predicted tough going for Perry's challenge.

"Such a suit now faces long odds, both legally and politically," said Prof. Rick Hasen of the University of California at Irvine Schoool of law.

The initial hurdle, Hasen explained, is the failure to bring suit before filing time. "This is an emergency of Perry's (and Gingrich's) own making. Surely they knew of the requirement earlier," he said.

Hasen said the federal courts have reached mixed decisions on residency requirements for petition circulators. 

Sullivan told NBC News on Friday that the campaign planned to review "the facts and the law to determine whether an appeal or challenge is warranted." 

In a statement released to press Tuesday, the Perry campaign argued that the Virginia rules are "onerous" and deny both candidates and voters their 1st and 14th amendment rights "to meaningfully participate in the political process." 

The Virginia contest is scheduled for March 6. 

NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams reported from Washington. NBC News correspondent Carrie Dann reported from Osceola, Iowa.

Alex Moe / NBC News

This new flier from Rick Perry's campaign lays out his plan to fix Washington, D.C.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Thirty-three days and counting till the Iowa caucuses and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is out with new campaign mailers and another television ad in the state.

“It’s time for a Washington overhaul,” the front cover of the trifold brochure reads. A bulldozer is depicted knocking over the Capitol on the front of the mailer Iowans found in their mailboxes today.

The inside pages explain Perry’s three-part plan to overhaul the nation’s capital:

Part 1: End lifetime appointment of federal judges.

Part 2: Create a part-time Congress, cutting pay and time in Washington in half.

Part 3: Overhaul the permanent bureaucracy.

Despite the governor not having been in the first-in-the-nation caucus state since Nov. 19, his campaign released another new television ad to run in the state Thursday.

The 30-second TV spot is entitled “Energy Jobs,” during which Perry says, “I’m an outsider so I’ll step on a few toes if necessary to reopen our oil and gas fields.”

While other GOP presidential campaigns are mailing out lots of campaign literature, Perry has rolled out by for the most TV ads throughout the Hawkeye State.

DES MOINES, IA -- The two current Iowa front-runners were conspicuously absent, but five other GOP presidential candidates were on hand to promote their conservative bona fides to about a thousand Iowa Republicans Friday night in Des Moines.
 
With Mitt Romney and Herman Cain giving the state Republican Party's annual Ronald Reagan Dinner a pass, the remaining candidates refrained from taking shots at each other, focusing their fire squarely on President Barack Obama.
 
“Sixty days. Sixty days from right now we start the process of choosing Barack Obama’s Republican successor, and it starts here in Iowa," state GOP Chairman Matt Strawn told attendees just before the candidates spoke.
 
For the third Iowa candidate confab in a row, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won one of the strongest responses from the conservative audience. (He was equally well received at the National Association of Manufacturers Forum this week and at an Iowa Faith and Freedom forum two weeks ago.)
 
Gingrich spent much of his speech praising the four other rivals with whom he shared the stage. "This is a great group. There are a couple I wish were here tonight. I would have said nice things about them. But we'll skip over that,” he said. “I am here with very fine competitors, but no opponents. We only have one opponent, that's Barack Obama.”
 
Gingrich also brought up his idea of Lincoln-Douglas style debates, promising he will hold President Obama to them if he is the nominee.
 
“If I end up as the nominee, in my acceptance speech if the president has not yet agreed, I will announce that from that day forward for the rest of the campaign, the White House will be my scheduler,” Gingrich told the crowd to cheers. “Wherever the president appears, I will appear four hours later.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry won laughs for joking that the Republican field is "involved in a project called Operation Occupy the White House," going on to describe his anti-Washington credentials.
 
In a speech heavily themed around having the "courage" to address tough issues like spending cuts and entitlement reform, Perry declared that "the future of America is too important to be left to the Washington politicians."
 
He promised to freeze salaries for members of Congress and non-military federal employees, and he criticized the ongoing congressional "Super Committee", addressing competitor Newt Gingrich directly by asking "we've had 20 different committees over 30 years?" to address the debt.
 
"It's easier to people to put studies together than it is to have the courage to stand up say here's what needs to be done and do what needs to be done," Perry said in an energetic speech that received just polite applause from the crowd.
 
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was quick to tout his recent achievement in the Hawkeye State.
 
“I am proud to announce that I did a Grassley –- I have been to all 99 counties in the State of Iowa,” Santorum said as he started, referring to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. “I have had a wonderful experience.”
 
Later, Santorum, who is still trailing in the polls despite his constant presence in Iowa, talked about the Faith, Family, & Freedom Tour he launched today.
 
“Everybody else has put up an economic plan; I’ve put up an economic plan. But no one has put up a plan to strengthen the American family, to make sure we have strong marriages in our country, to defend the institutions of marriages,” he said. “I did."
 
Perry, Santorum, and Ron Paul worked the crowd before the event started, posing for photos and taking questions from some famously inquisitive Iowa voters, while Michele Bachmann and Gingrich lingered in the VIP room until the dinner began.
 
During her address, Bachmann sounded themes familiar to Iowans who visited her high-energy stump events of July and August, during the run-up to her win at the Ames Straw Poll.
 
Reprising her message from this summer’s fight over the debt ceiling, Bachmann also voiced concerns about events in Europe, where Greece at one point this week deferred a bailout package from the European Union, setting off panic in world markets.
 
“Maybe they just didn’t want to cut back on their spending,” Bachmann said. “The rest of the world looked at Greece and said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Take the deal or you go down the drain.’”
 
Reiterating a message she introduced during an economic policy address earlier this week, Bachmann used Greece’s story as a warning.
 
“What we need to do right now in the United States is take a real good look in the mirror,” she said.
 
Texas Rep. Paul advocated for the elimination of the income tax, saying that the idea of liberty means that Americans should be able to keep what they make.
 
“Shouldn’t it also follow that we have a right to the fruits of our labor? Which implies that there should be no income tax!"
 
Paul offered a typically passionate pitch to slash spending, end wars aboard, and eliminate numerous federal agencies -- including the Education Department.

COLUMBIA, S.C. –Texas Gov. Rick Perry said last week he opposed allowing specialty license plates, featuring the Confederate battle flag in his home state, saying, “We don’t need to be opening old wounds.”

Those words resonate in this crucial primary state, where public placement of the flag remains a controversial issue. But when it comes to politics here, some South Carolinians on both sides of the issue agree with Perry that those wounds, however fresh, should be left alone. 

The flag issue came to a head here in July 2000 when, after protracted legislative debate, it was moved from the statehouse dome, its perch since 1962, to a monument just in front of the capital. (The NAACP has upheld an economic boycott of South Carolina tourism since 1999 due to the flag’s presence on statehouse grounds).

That debate coincided with the presidential race here, during which Sen. John McCain changed his opinion of the flag several times before ultimately calling for its removal from the statehouse after he lost the primary to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

But now, even though the Confederate flag still has proponents in the South Carolina statehouse, some of them say Perry’s opposition to the Texas license plates shouldn’t be an issue here during the 2012 primary.

“It’s last Century’s battle. Let’s move forward,” said Republican state Sen. John Courson, a flag supporter, who wrote the 1994 Heritage Act, a compromise proposal to relocate the flag, which would later form the basis of the 2000 compromise.

“The Heritage Act debate was long, very emotional on both sides, and I just don’t think people want to revisit anything like that,” added Courson, who endorsed Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman for the Republican nomination.

Democratic state Sen. Robert Ford, who opposed the flag but worked on the 2000 compromise, noted that the state just kicked off a five-year commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War.

“Nobody’s even talking about the Confederacy in that light anymore. Not since the celebration started,” said Ford, who is African-American and earlier this year urged other African-Americans to participate in the anniversary events.

“You just don’t add fuel to the fire that’s not even burning,” he added.

While Perry opposes the license plates, he has previously defended the historical value of Confederate symbols. In March 2000 (one month before South Carolina legislators voted to move the flag here) Perry, then Texas lieutenant governor, opposed NAACP-led efforts to remove plaques with Confederate symbols from a state Supreme Court building in Austin.

According to the Associated Press, Perry wrote a letter to the Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans, who supported the plaques. “Although this is an emotional issue, I want you to know that I oppose efforts to remove Confederate monuments, plaques, and memorials from public property,” he wrote.

Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan said that while the plaques have been in the state building for decades, “The license plates have not been approved or implemented. There's a difference between removing decades old plaques and approving new license plates,” Sullivan said in an email to NBC News.

Proceeds from the sale of the proposed license plates, which first needs approval from the state Department of Motor Vehicles, would go to the Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans and be used to erect Confederate monuments after the group has recouped expenses, according to the Washington Post. 

Regarding Perry’s positions on the license plates and plaques, South Carolina political strategist Chip Felkel noted that nationally, the Confederate flag carries a bigger political stigma than among Southern states.  

“Even people who are staunch supporters of the Confederate battle flag or license plates also recognize the political minefield that that issue represents for a national candidate,” Felkel said.

But the leader of the South Carolina branch of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (which has its own license plate here) said he is not convinced by the argument of political expediency.

“Those who want to take safe positions when it’s politically correct these days to distance themselves from the Confederate flag, the voters themselves will figure it out,” said Mark Simpson, the group’s commander.

South Carolina NAACP president Lonnie Randolph suggested that while Perry’s shift may have been politically motivated, he believed it was a positive change.

“With him supporting [Confederate plaques] at the Supreme Court, but now not supporting license plates, that tells me that maybe he didn’t think he would be running for president one day,” Randolph said, adding, “He understands that if you want to be president, you should want to be a president of all the people, not just of some people.”

JOHNSTON, IA -- Speaking to employees of an advanced agricultural facility here yesterday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry struck a populist, disputing the premise of the phrase "too big to fail," including for sovereign nations. 

"I would never have bailed anyone out," Perry said at a town hall for staff of DuPont-owned Pioneer Hi-Bred. "If you were too big to fail, you were too big."

"I don't care whether you're a country, or whether you're a corporation, or whether you were a small business down on Main Street," he said yesterday. "And I sure haven't seen any small businesses being bailed out by government." 

The comment, which came as President Barack Obama attends a G20 summit clouded by concerns about Greece's debt, was in response to an employee's question about financial regulations.

Perry said of the Dodd-Frank legislation signed into law in 2010: "It institutionalized what they were trying to keep from happening."

He reiterated his claim that government has failed in oversight of the big banks, accusing the two of being "in bed together."

"I happen to think Wall Street and Washington, DC have been in bed together way too long. That's one of the problems that we have in this country, is that there are people who have too much money invested that end up in Washington, DC."

Perry claimed that his pledge to take a "sledgehammer" to the DC status quo is "why the establishment really doesn't like me and really doesn't like my tax plan."

In response to a question about the president's Iraq policy, Perry said he did not necessarily dispute the idea of bringing troops home, but he disagreed with the president's telegraphing of U.S. strategy.

"The issue I have is not with the president's proclamation that he wants to bring our young men and women home. I agree with that. I want to bring them home, too. But to signal to your enemy when you want to bring your troops home is a tactical error and I think irresponsible." 

Perry has previously said that Obama should have worked closely with commanders on the ground to formulate a timetable for withdrawal that should not be disclosed to enemy forces.

A former agriculture commissioner who frequently highlights his rural roots, Perry struck a sentimental tone while speaking to the employees at Pioneer, saying that they can help make America "a leader in food supply, or energy supply, or one thing that I think the world needs a huge supply of: Freedom."

The Herman Cain campaign is blaming the Rick Perry campaign for leaking the story about sexual harassment charges against him at the National Restaurant Association in the late-1990s, a charge the Perry campaign vehemently denies.

"The Perry campaign needs to apologize to Herman Cain and his family," Cain Chief of Staff Mark Block said on Fox this afternoon.

Perry campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan told NBC's Alex Moe today, "No one at our campaign was involved in this story in any way. Any claim to the contrary is patently false. The first we learned of it was when we read the story in POLITICO."

Cain earlier today in an interview with Forbes blamed a consultant who worked with him during his 2004 run for Senate in Georgia -- DC-based consultant Curt Anderson, who Perry recently hired. Anderson denies he was a source of the leak.

“I told my wife about this in 1999 and I’ve got nothing to hide,” Cain said. “When I sat down with my general campaign consultant Curt Anderson in a private room in our campaign offices in 2003 we discussed opposition research on me. It was a typical campaign conversation. I told him that there was only one case, one set of charges, one woman while I was at the National Restaurant Association. Those charges were baseless, but I thought he needed to know about them. I don’t recall anyone else being in the room when I told him.”

In response, Anderson told NBC's Carrie Dann in a statement: "I’ve known Herman Cain for about seven years. I was one of several consultants on his Senate race in 2004 and was proud to help him. I'd never heard any of these allegations until I read them in Politico, nor does anything I read in the press change my opinion that Herman is an upstanding man and a gentleman. I have great respect for Herman and his character and I would never speak ill of him, on the record or off the record. That's true today and it's not going to change."

Also today, Chris Wilson, a GOP pollster aligned with the pro-Perry Super PAC "Make Us Great Again," went on a local Oklahoma City radio show and said he witnessed inappropriate behavior on Cain's part while he was at the National Restaurant Association. Wilson was the pollster for the restaurant association, he said on the radio show.

But he told First Read he acted on his own and was not the source of any leaks.

"To be clear, and you can ask any of the reporters covering this story, I had nothing to do with leaking this in any way," he said in an email to First Read, "and I've never discussed or shared this story with any of my clients - period."

Wilson was not a source for NBC's independent reporting and confirmation of various aspects of this story. Politico first reported on the radio interview.

Wilson told KTOK that he expected the allegations to come out eventually, that they were widely known within the association, and that he personally witnessed inappropriate behavior "a couple times."

"I was actually around a couple times where this happened," Wilson said. "Anyone who was involved with the restaurant association at the time knew that this was going to come up."

He added, "My bet is the NRA ... is going to have no choice but to release her from the confidentiality agreement, because I think Herman Cain has already violated it by addressing it on the air last night."

Wilson described the woman who would like to come forward as a lower-level staffer, about two years out of college.

"This all occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City (Va.)," Wilson said. "And everybody was very aware of it. ... It was only a matter of time, because so many people were aware of what took place" and that she left and why she left. "If she does go on the air and talk about it, I think it'll be the end of his campaign."

He deferred on the specific details.

And Politico's Jonathan Martin reports tonight: "In a meeting at the Capitol Hill Club, Cain said he and his campaign had found out who was purportedly leaking word of his behavior toward female employees at the National Restaurant Association and that a report was coming out that would disprove the charges, according to the chief of staff to one of the Georgia members."

DURHAM, N.H. -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry will go on the air with his "I'm a doer not a talker" ad starting tomorrow in New Hampshire, according to the Perry campaign. The same ad began running in Iowa this week.

Senior Perry adviser Paul Young called this move a "significant statewide buy" that will put Perry on New Hamphire's WMUR new station and radio waves. The ad will also be aired on cable. The campaign would not elaborate on how much was spent.

Perry is currently polling in the single digits in New Hampshire.