UPDATED 3:30 PM ET

FORT MILL, S.C. -- In his most searing criticism to date of the Republican frontrunner, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday described companies like Gov. Mitt Romney's former firm Bain Capital as a "vultures" that eat the "carcasses" of struggling businesses.

"They’re vultures sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick," Perry said of private equity firms during remarks to an assisted living community in northeastern South Carolina. "And then they swoop in, they eat the carcass, they leave with that and they leave the skeleton.”

The attacks on Romney and Bain have been ratcheted up, as candidates fight for political survival in this Republican nomination fight that could soon be effectively over if Romney pulls off a significant New Hampshire win and then follows it up with one in South Carolina.

In language that could perhaps fall on sympathetic ears of Occupy Wall Street protestors, Perry derided Bain for its involvement in the restructuring of two South Carolina companies that he claims resulted in heavy job losses in the region.

"Mitt Romney was the head of Bain Capital when that was happening," he said. "And it’s that mentality of making money against all other considerations."

Perry later confirmed to reporters that the "vulture" metaphor specifically referred to Bain Capital, adding that such firms stretch the limit of free market principles.

"We have allowed these greedy people on Wall Street to take advantage of small companies that may be going through some tough times," he said at a press conference Tuesday. "And instead of trying to work with them to find a way to keep the jobs and get them back on their feet it's all about how much money can we make, how quick can we make it and then get out of town and find the next carcass to feed upon."

The Texas governor, who has struck populist tones throughout his presidential run, said that Romney's history at Bain will be examined by voters in the days after today's New Hampshire primary, where Romney is expected to win by a wide margin.

"When you look at all the jobs that they destroyed by this going in and restructuring these companies, taking their big management fees and then the people whose jobs have been pitched over the side, I think that's an assessment that hasn't been done yet," he said. "And I think it's going to happen over the course of the next week."

On Tuesday, Perry also accused the current administration of mutual back-scratching with big business interests, noting that the White House's last three chiefs of staff have been tied to Wall Street firms.

"You don't think there's a little bit of inside dealing going on there? That their buddies on Wall Street aren't calling em up and saying 'hey how about let's not be quite that tough on those of us on Wall Street," he said. "We're just good old boys out here trying to make a buck'?"

So far, Perry's critiques of rivals have failed to gain traction; millions of dollars spent on Iowa ads labeling them "insiders" earned him only a fifth-place finish in the January 3rd caucuses. His campaign hopes that a state that prides itself on "picking presidents" and defying conventional wisdom will give Perry a desperately-needed boost.

Perry would not answer questions Tuesday about what anything other than a win here in South Carolina would mean for the future of his campaign. "Our intention is to win. And I can't tell you anything other than that," he said.

But, defying the obvious Texas historical metaphor for a man making his last stand in the face of almost certain defeat, Perry said that his last-ditch campaign swing in South Carolina is less like the famed slaughter of revolutionaries in 1836 and more like the triumphant final battle that ultimately won the region its independence from Mexico.

"This isn't our Alamo," he told the audience in Fort Mill. "It's our San Jacinto."

NBC's Ali Weinberg contributed to this report.

ANDERSON, SC -- Accusing front-runner Mitt Romney of causing painful layoffs in South Carolina during his leadership at a Boston private equity firm, Texas Gov. Rick Perry mocked the former Bain Capital CEO for claiming yesterday that he once feared losing his job.
  
"I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips, whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out -- because his company Bain Capital and all the jobs that they killed," Perry said. "I'm sure he was worried that he would run out of pink slips." 

The Texas governor was referring to a comment Romney made in New Hampshire yesterday, when he said, "There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip.” But as the New York Times notes, his campaign could not cite specific examples of Romney almost getting a pink slip, although a spokesman said that “as a young person just out of college, [Romney] worked his way up the career ladder knowing that his continued employment was by no means guaranteed.” 
 
Perry -- who named a steel manufacturer in Georgetown, SC, and a photo album company in Gaffney that he says gutted jobs as a result of Bain's actions -- said that residents of those communities would be stunned by the remarks of "the son of a multi-millionaire." 
 
"There's something inherently wrong when getting rich off failure and sticking it to someone else is how you do your business. I happen to think that is indefensible," he told the breakfast crowd of about 75 at Mama Penn's restaurant here in Anderson. "If you're a victim of Bain Capital's downsizing, it's the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain. Because he caused it." 
 
The Texas governor continued to blast his rivals as a whole for being "insiders" chained to the DC status quo, although he did offer some complimentary words for Texas colleague Ron Paul when he asked if the famously anti-Fed congressman would make a good Federal Reserve chair. 
 
"Congressman Paul would be an ideal person to head up the Fed and put a little fear in their heart," he replied after chuckling that Paul would "probably scare all of those people to death." 
  
Perry, who hopes to score momentum from evangelicals in the Palmetto State, spoke at length about his faith, and joked that his identity as a Christian is fitting given his rocky moments as a candidate.
 
"God gives us what we can't give ourselves, and that's the gift of redemption," he said. "If you watch my debate performances, it's good to get a little bit of redemption every now and then. Get a second chance."

*** UPDATE *** Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul responds, "It is no surprise that, having spent nearly half a century in government between them, Speaker Gingrich and Gov. Perry have resorted to desperate attacks on a subject they don’t understand. We expect attacks on free enterprise from President Obama and his allies on the left – not from so-called ‘fiscal conservatives.’"

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Citing his own "peace with God," Rick Perry says he's pressing forward with his battered presidential campaign because he will not "quit on the future of America."

"I've never quit a day in my life. I've never quit in the face of adversity," Perry told over 100 South Carolinians at the famed Beacon Drive-In in Spartanburg. "And I'm not just about to quit  on the future of America. I am going to stay in this race and stay in this fight because our children and our country are worth the fight."

Perry, who suffered a disappointing 5th place finish in the Iowa caucuses and appeared on the verge of dropping out last week, said that he was encouraged to stay in the race by endorser Capt. Dan Moran, a Marine who endured over 30 surgeries after surviving an IED attack in Iraq.

"He said, 'Sir, I didn't get these scars on my face to quit,'" Perry said of Moran. "That's our challenge. That we're not quitting on America. We're not quitting on this race."

The Texas governor said that his faith - which he emphasized frequently during his first stop of a long swing through the state - has guided him through the difficult days of the campaign.

"When you find that peace from God, you stop worrying about what the critics say," Perry said. "Matter of fact, you quit reading the headlines, good ones or bad ones, because they don't matter."

"I've got all the people that love me that I need. Her, (his wife) Jesus. and my family," he added during his pitch as an enemy of Washington. "I'm not going to Washington DC to make a friend."

Team Perry's last best hope lies in the Palmetto State, where they hope he can reconnect with Tea Party and evangelical voters skeptical of frontrunner Mitt Romney.

On Sunday, he painted South Carolina as a prime enemy of the Obama administration, which has recently clashed with the state government over voting and business regulations.

"There are some other states that are under assault," he said. "South Carolina, they're going to war with y'all."

Perry added that he would do away entirely with the National Labor Relations Board, a federal body particularly reviled by conservatives in the state due to its conflicts with Boeing manufacturers over labor laws.

At the famed campaign hotspot, Perry ordered a "chili cheese a'plenty" and sweet tea to go, but he renamed the heart-unhealthy concoction with a more personalized title.

"Having a Chili Cheese Delight Extra ...Governor!" he declared of his meal.

AUSTIN Texas -- With two more debates under his belt, Texas Gov. Rick Perry travels to South Carolina Sunday for a campaign swing that will very likely amount to hitting his head against a political wall for 13 straight days.

"At least it will be warmer there," some on his staff darkly joke.

But Perry, who is keeping his campaign alive despite a fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses, is a candidate who has never lost an election, a man whose voice breaks when he relates the stories of young veterans who survived brutal attacks against all odds, a dirt-poor kid whose identity is fundamentally rooted in the unlikeliness of his ascent from a chemistry-flunking country boy to the leader of the 13th largest economy in the world.

He believed there was a chance. He's taking it. Because he always has before, and why not?

Sources familiar with Perry's thinking say when his Iowa failure was unfolding, his South Carolina team reminded the governor that his campaign had the financial resources and the ground game to support a last-ditch campaign whirlwind in the Palmetto State. His family - and members of his veterans' coalition who act as an extended family for the onetime C-130 pilot - encouraged him not to give up the ghost until he'd exhausted all options. There was, Perry was told, no downside to continuing the run other than the perception - shared by all but his most ardent devotees - that he would simply be prolonging the inevitable.

But few - if any - members of his staff on the ground walked out of the West Des Moines Sheraton ballroom on Tuesday night believing that Perry would do anything but exit the race on Thursday in Austin. So when Perry rocked (or at least jiggled) the political world on Wednesday by tweeting his intention to stay in the race, confusion abounded in the ranks of staff still groggy from an emotional evening in the hotel bar swapping memories of a campaign days past.

Perry had spoken to top aide Joe Allbaugh and communications director Ray Sullivan by phone about the decision to stay in, but the message was never communicated to aides on the ground in Iowa. One staffer speculated that the governor's Twitter account had been hacked before finding out through press reports that the abandoned South Carolina barnstorm was back on.

Those close to Perry laugh off conspiracy theories that the governor's decision to stay in the presidential contest is somehow designed as a spoiler to elevate Mitt Romney. Perry's personal friction with the former Massachusetts governor's dates back to their overlap at the Republican Governors' Association, and there's no reason to suspect that the brutal last five months has soothed Perry's views of his rival as a wad of political Play-Doh. 

Apparent impulsivity - and the deployment of a political vision hazy in the eyes of everyone except for himself - has worked for the governor before.

His decision to run for re-election in 2010, which came as a seemingly off-the-cuff remark at the conclusion of a press scrum, caught his Texas allies by surprise, but Perry marched on to a staggering victory in November. Last year, Perry appeared to have shut and bolted the door on a presidential run, only to bring back his closest advisers from Newt Gingrich's then-crumbling campaign to rocket into front-runner status when he finally entered the race in August.

Perry's calculus this time is based almost completely on the past volatility of the GOP field, which has seen each of its candidates - with the exception of Romney - experience increasingly shorter half-lives at the top of the polls. A perfect storm would require the collapse of both a kamikaze Gingrich who sacrifices the appeal of his "positive campaign" in the attempt to deliver a body blow to Romney and a dizzied Santorum who withers under scrutiny.

In that scenario, Perry - who can point to his national organization and onetime impressive fundraising numbers - would play the role of Lazarus to social conservatives on the brink of despairingly supporting Romney.

The strategy will require not only luck, but also a nimble and united team to respond quickly to attacks and rally supporters for one more foray into the breach.

Which might be the variable Perry hasn't considered.

As sharply illustrated by the content and fallout from a Politico piece published just days before the Iowa caucus, the relationship between Perry's original Texas team and the outside consultants who are largely steering the campaign now is characterized by mistrust and hurt feelings.

So can he do it?

Not impossible. But it would take luck, leadership, and a Texas miracle.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Defying expectations that he would quietly drop out of the presidential race in the coming days, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced in a tweet Wednesday morning that he will continue to campaign in South Carolina despite a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. 

"This wasn't a hard decision," Perry told reporters after his 140-character announcement of the continuation of the campaign "marathon" -- which included a photo of himself in running gear -- stunned even some staff who scrambled to confirm his intentions. 

The governor told reporters that he made the decision to push forward during a morning jog in West Des Moines. "I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me." 

Perry offered some harsh words for the caucus state that handed him last night's defeat, saying he was looking forward to participating in "actual primaries" with "real Republicans."

"This is a quirky place,  a quirky process to say the least," he said of the Iowa caucus system. "And we’re going to go into places where they have actual primaries and there are going to be real Republicans voting."

"The fact it is was a pretty loosey-goosey process, and you had a ton of people who were there that admitted they were Democrats voting in the caucuses last night," he added. 

However, South Carolina has an open primary, meaning that political independents and Democrats can participate in that process, too. 

Perry told supporters in a speech that seemed just shy of a concession last night that he would "reassess" the future of his campaign in Austin. He is traveling as planned to his home state Wednesday but will participate in two debates in New Hampshire this weekend before pushing on to South Carolina. 

The campaign has been torn by spats -- some aired on the pages of national news outlets -- between the Texas-based loyalists on his staff and outside consultants who joined the campaign in the fall. Perry mentioned only two senior aides by name -- relative newcomer Joe Allbaugh and longtime Texas ally and communications director Ray Sullivan -- when asked whom he consulted about his decision to stay in the race. 

Perry declined to say whether or not there would be any staff changes after the Iowa defeat 

"I don’t have any idea," Perry said. "That’s not my area of expertise. I leave that to Joe Allbaugh.”

This story was updated at 1:25a.m. ET

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Texan is going home. 

 After a disappointing fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night, Gov. Rick Perry announced that he will return to his home state to assess the future of a campaign that remained stalled for months despite prolific ad spending and a frenzied eleventh hour bus tour in the Hawkeye State. 

 "With the voters' decision tonight in Iowa, I decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," Perry told several hundred supporters gathered in the West Des Moines hotel that served as the team's nerve center this week. 

Perry briefly choked up when reading aloud a letter from a supporter who drove from Texas to Iowa to support him.

Unlike his final Iowa campaign events - when he surrounded himself with loyal endorsers - Perry was joined only by his immediate family on stage as he thanked his supporters. 

"You've made every minute of this worth it for ourselves," he told backers. "And with a little prayer and reflection, I'm going to determine the best path forward, but I want to tell you there has been no greater joy in my life than being able to share with the people of Iowa that there is a model to take this country forward and it is in the great state of Texas."

Aides said that Perry discussed the decision with family, senior aide Joe Allbaugh and communications director Ray Sullivan in his hotel suite after the fifth place finish was projected. Perry himself pushed to make the announcement of his return to Texas on stage rather than through a paper statement. 

The next step for Perry will be a powwow with family and advisors as well as a data dive by aides into Perry's performance in the Iowa contest. 

"It's going to come down to a calculus of what the Iowa results really said beyond the first snapshot, what resources we have available financially and otherwise and how we read South Carolina and the potential there," communications director Ray Sullivan told reporters.  

In the waning days of the Iowa race, the campaign hoped that its ground game would propel the candidate to a surprise third place finish or a close fourth place showing. But public polls and internal surveys saw a stubborn lack of momentum despite more than 50 public appearances for the candidate since Dec 14. 

In addition to the weak debate performances and embarrassing gaffes that haunted his campaign, the campaign was also plagued by infighting between its old guard Texas loyalists and more recently added political consultants. 

A public announcement of Perry's next step will come no earlier than Thursday, Sullivan said. 

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- With a sense of history on the biggest political day -- to date -- of the 2012 cycle, Texas Gov. Rick Perry today compared the GOP's quest to defeat President Barack Obama to one of the deadliest battles of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944.

"This election is about stopping a president of the United States and his administration that is abusing the Constitution of this country, that is putting America on a track to bankruptcy," Perry told a hotel ballroom packed with more than 200 volunteers. 

"It is a powerful moment in Americans' history, and you are on the front lines," he added. "This is Concord. This is Omaha Beach. This is going up the hill realizing that the battle is worth winning."

Those supporters, who represent 32 states, descended on the Perry team's nerve center at the West Des Moines Sheraton after the Christmas holiday. About 500 of them will fan out to caucus sites today across the state to advocate for the Texas governor.

Introducing her husband, an emotional Anita Perry thanked supporters for their loyalty in a campaign most recently scarred by a Politico article rife with quotes from anonymous staff members who savaged their colleagues for the team's early disorganization.

While Perry has gained few endorsements since his famously devastating debate performance in Michigan back in November, several of his early backers have made the journey to frigid Iowa for the governor's final push.

South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal are among the allies on hand.

And they remain loyal -- and on  message.

"I will leave it to the pundits to look at polls and campaign staff," Jindal told NBC News. "To be honest with you, I didn't endorse Rick because of the polls. I didn't endorse Rick because of his campaign organization. I endorsed him because of his executive experience and his fiscal conservatism."

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- With less than 48 hours to go until the Iowa caucuses become fodder for the history books, Texas Gov. Rick Perry says that the "marathon" of the presidential race is actually just beginning.

"This is the first, let's say, mile one of the marathon," Perry said during a Caucus Eve appearance in Sioux City. "I've run a marathon before. I felt great at mile one. As a matter of fact I felt pretty great at mile 17 and 18. At mile 21 you kinda start hitting that wall a little bit. And we'll see who's still running at mile 21."

"I finished my marathon," asserted Perry, an avid runner who says he tries to lace up his track shoes at least four times a week. "And I expect to finish this marathon as well."

The argument continues a case that the campaign has been making privately to potential supporters but that Perry himself did not publicly assert until this morning: that Perry's campaign -- unlike socially conservative rivals Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum -- has the nationwide infrastructure and fundraising ability necessary to go the distance and win the GOP nomination.

The campaign hopes that his 1,500 Iowa precinct captains and throngs of out-of-state volunteers will help boost the candidate above the fourth or fifth place finish predicted in recent polls. Exceeded expectations could remind disappointed supporters of the organizational and financial muscle flexed by Perry's campaign before a series of poor debate performances tempered his brief status as the campaign's frontrunner.

The candidate was introduced Monday by onetime presidential hopeful Steve Forbes and was joined by a throng of Texan lawmakers and supporters in addition to about 100 Iowans at a rustic hotel festooned with taxidermic creations.

Perry, who yesterday appeared publicly only for a brief visit toa West Des Moines church, exhibited renewed energy Monday as he echoed past swipes at rivals Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

"I understand what pork-barrel politics is all about. I scratch your back, you scratch mine," he said of Santorum, whose past earmarking is also the target of a new web ad by the campaign. "That is not conservative governing, That is fleecing America and it's gotta stop."

But, as usual, Perry saved his harshest language for the man whose job he's eying.

"America, on the cusp of bankruptcy?" he asked incredulously. "Because [Barack Obama] truly believes if you print enough money that you'll create jobs. And we will expose him for the fraud that he is every day," he said. "I look forward to the opportunity."

DES MOINES, IA -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry is reminding Iowa voters that Rick Santorum lost his last statewide contest by an embarrassing double-digit margin, as well as arguing that the former Pennsylvania senator lacks the national organization to win the GOP primary in 2012.

"His ... argument is 'I'm the guy that can win,'" Perry said of Santorum. "He got beat by 18 [percentage] points his last race. I mean this guy has proven that he can't win races when it matters against a liberal Democrat."

Perry, who himself has never lost an election, told NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" that Santorum would also be hurt by his past endorsement of party-switcher Arlen Specter.

"That's a movement conservative? I don't think so" Perry said.

The Texas governor argues that he is the only candidate who can compete with Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in a long nominating process.

"I'm the only one of the social conservatives and the fiscal conservatives that are running that actually has the ability to raise the money, to have the organization, to run though and finish the primary process," he said. "Santorum and Bachmann don't."

Perry said his resources will make him competitive in Nevada, Florida, and his home state of Texas.

"At the end of the day, we have the national organization and fundraising capabilities to run through this thing," he said. 

Rick Perry hopes his money, organization, and a last-minute push can help him to a surprise showing in Iowa.

A source in the campaign says it has signed up 1,500 precinct leaders in preparation for Tuesday's caucuses and that there are more than 450 Texas-based "strike force" volunteers who are in town for the effort as well. (CNN first reported the numbers of Perry’s precinct leaders and ground game.)

There are 1,774 GOP caucus precincts. The aggressive ground game is one reason that aides on the ground here are optimistic that they may outperform polls because advocates at the vast majority of caucus locations will be working to make the last-minute sale on behalf of the governor.

In the latest NBC-Marist poll, Perry was in fourth place at 14%, but just a point behind the surging Rick Santorum, who does not have as strong an organization - which has struggled in the last couple days. Finishing third could be a coup for Perry and provide momentum heading into South Carolina, another conservative -- and also Southern -- state.

The Perry campaign has set up a makeshift headquarters for those out-of-state volunteers at a West Des Moines hotel.

COULMBIA, S.C. -- For Rick Perry, the sprint towards South Carolina’s January 21st primary begins not after New Hampshire, but just hours after the winner of the Iowa caucus is announced.

The Texas governor's tour of South Carolina begins on Jan. 4 in Aiken County at 3:30 p.m. with a walk through downtown Aiken followed by a “Rally in the Alley” there. He then travels west to North Augusta (about 15 minutes away from Augusta, Georgia) to meet with voters at Al’s Family Restaurant.

While Perry’s efforts in South Carolina so far have not paid off much (he had 6 percent in a December NBC News-Marist poll of voters here) his campaign is betting that with its evangelical voters and large military community, South Carolina is more fertile ground for a Perry revival than New Hampshire.

Perry’s campaign is not the only one looking to generate early South Carolina buzz. Newt Gingrich, who said earlier this week that South Carolina is a must-win for him (his spokesman later tried to walk that comment back), will start his South Carolina tour in the Upstate on the morning of January 11th, a day after the New Hampshire contest.

Gingrich’s campaign has already announced that he will be in Rock Hill, near Charlotte, N.C, for a town hall at 9 a.m. Later that day, he will be in Spartanburg, another voter-rich Upstate region, for a luncheon with the county Republican Party and a town hall meeting at the Beacon restaurant, a popular stop for presidential hopefuls.

Later that night, Gingrich and his wife Callista will attend a private house party in Greenville, which guests will pay between $500 and $5,000 to attend.

The day before the January 21st vote, Gingrich will participate in a get-out-the-vote rally at Coker College in Hartsville, located in the northeastern Pee Dee region of the state.

And while Jon Huntsman is staking a big claim in New Hampshire, his three daughters will be in Columbia on January 5^th as guests on Pub Politics, an Internet talk show hosted by Republican consultant Wesley Donehue, a Bachmann adviser, and Democratic strategist Phil Bailey.