CHARLESTON, SC -- Erstwhile presidential candidate Herman Cain made his promised "unconventional endorsement" on Thursday, explaining to Republicans here that he supports "the people" in 2012.

The former Godfather's Pizza CEO appeared at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference to make his announcement weeks after having ended his own presidential campaign.

“Here is my unconventional endorsement: not a candidate seeking the nomination, not someone that’s not running. My unconventional endorsement is the people,” Cain bellowed to a near-empty arena at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

"We the people of this nation are still in charge! That's who I'm endorsing! Because we're the ones that are going to have to lead this revolution. We're the ones who are gonna be able to take our power back. I'm endorsing the people, the people who started this country," he added.

Less than five minutes later, Cain -- clad in one of his signature gold ties -- told reporters he still may choose to endorse an actual candidate in the near future.

"Now the fact that I made an unconventional endorsement does not rule out that I still might endorse someone. I'm simply not going to do it now," he said. "I wanted my unconventional endorsement to be a part of a bigger message. That bigger position is Washington is broke."

Cain, in an attempt to reassert relevance in the GOP race, said that he "stopped by here to tell y'all today we need another revolution! We need a solutions revolution!"

Fresh off a bus boasting his 9-9-9 tax plan and his new "Solutions Revolution" tour, Cain's self-confidence was unwavering.

"This time it won't be about bombs and bullets. We are not going to fight it with bombs and bullets. We are going to fight this solutions revolution with brains and ballots at the ballot box," Cain told a handful of Republicans from around the country.

The Georgia-based businessman also ruled out another White House bid, at least during this cycle.

"No, I have not considered coming back into the race. Here's why, real simply, I chose to put family first," Cain explained, citing "lies that have been spun over and over" causing "tears in [his] wife's eyes."

Cain also used his moment in the spotlight to dispense personal advice to frontrunner Newt Gingrich, ahead of a television interview with the former speaker's second wife set to air this evening.

"The American people don't care. My recommendation to Speaker Gingrich is don't focus on it," he said, drawing on sexual allegations made against him during his candidacy.

Tomorrow, Cain will appear in Charleston again alongside comedian Stephen Colbert for a rally entitled “The Rock Me Like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally.”

CHARLESTON, SC -- Despite revised results in the Iowa caucus showing he finished 24 votes ahead of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum found his potential moment in the sun overshadowed Thursday by news that a rival Republican was exiting the race.

The Iowa GOP's official tally, until today, had Santorum losing to Romney by eight votes, but on Thursday the Republican Party of Iowa today released the certified tally, which gave Santorum a 34 vote advantage over Mitt Romney. NBC News will not declare a winner in the race.

But the questions the former Pennsylvania senator had faced throughout the day about the recount were paired with queries about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's departure from the race.

"We can win elections, we can organize, we can put together an effort to pull the resources together to be able to be successful in being the person that can defeat Mitt Romney because guess what, we defeated Mitt Romney in Iowa," Santorum said this morning about the revised results.

But the follow up about reaction to Perry leaving the race: "I know it's a tough day and it's been a tough process for them and my heart and prayers go out to them and congratulations to them on stepping up when you thought your country was calling you to try to make a difference."

Along with his announcement to leave the race, Perry also endorsed Newt Gingrich, a blow to Santorum, whose campaign is attempting to appeal to many of the same conservative voters Perry did. Still, after an appearance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Santorum maintained that anytime the field narrows is a good thing for him.

Speaking at the SRLC just moments before former presidential candidate Herman Cain, Santorum remained focused touting his Iowa victory. While how the development will impact Santorum in the polls remains unclear, campaign aides he said they have already seen a bump in fundraising.

Still, the former Pennsylvania senator is still struggling to compete with Gingrich and Romney in the Palmetto State, proclaiming only that he would show momentum here.

"We feel very, very good about what this win will mean," he said.

Updated 6:16 p.m.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- After winning the support of former rival Rick Perry this morning, Newt Gingrich's endorsement momentum continued among members of South Carolina's political establishment as he picked up former supporters of Jon Huntsman and Perry, along with few influential GOP fundraisers.

Richard Quinn, Huntsman's top South Carolina strategist who worked for John McCain in 2008, is endorsing Gingrich along with his son Rick, a state senator who had also endorsed Huntsman. The senior Quinn had also worked as an adviser to Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, an aspect of his resume Gingrich may soon highlight.

Mike Campbell, the son of former South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, who also backed Huntsman, announced his support of Gingrich today. Bob McAlister, a former chief of staff to compbell who had aided the Huntsman and McCain campaigns, also backed Gingrich.

Several influential members of the South Carolina business community are also rallying behind Gingrich today including two former Huntsman backers: businessman John Rainey and Gayle Averyt, former chairman of the Colonial life insurance company. Former Tanzania ambassador Bob Royall, another bundler for Bush and McCain, also endorsed Gingrich.

Huntsman exited the race on Monday, and endorsed Mitt Romney -- not Gingrich -- in the GOP primary.

Those business leaders, as well as several of their friends and colleagues, met with Gingrich last week in an effort to coalesce around a candidate as they had done in 2000, when they rallied around George W. Bush, and 2008, when they endorsed McCain. They also considered Rick Santorum, who also spoke with the group last week.

Gingrich also nabbed a major former Perry backer, South Carolina state House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who was part of a 20-plus group of influential Republicans who endorsed Perry in late October. Another Perry supporter, South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, said today that he did not "anticipate endorsing any other candidate between now and Saturday."

While Gingrich seemed to collect up the most endorsements today, one influential Republican joined the Romney camp: David Wilkins, a former state House speaker and ambassador to Canada during George W. Bush's administration. (Wilkins' brother Billy, a prominent lawyer here, is a Gingrich supporter.)

Wilkins told NBC News today that he met Romney and his wife six years ago during a breakfast in Boston with other U.S. ambassadors.

TAMPLA, FL -- Michele Bachmann's campaign is denying the Minnesota congresswoman has either endorsed or ruled out supporting a candidate following the circulation of a fraudulent news release in South Carolina.

A release, which appears to show the Minnesota congresswoman denouncing Newt Gingrich two weeks after Bachmann ended her campaign, was distributed by email to voters in South Carolina yesterday.

The campaign's former communications director, Alice Stewart, issued this response: "The Bachmann for President campaign has not issued an official statement regarding an endorsement of any current candidate in the GOP race ahead of the South Carolina primary. Any information found to the contrary is inaccurate."

NBC News has obtained a copy of the release, which was printed on campaign letterhead and made to look like a news release sent on behalf of the candidate herself. 

The release promises an endorsement in the "coming weeks," but notes, "through this exhaustive process of consideration, it was strikingly obvious that one candidate could not be less acceptable to be our Party's nominee." 

Describing a candidate lacking "poise, experience and moral fibre," the release names Gingrich, calling him "desperately flawed."

If nothing else, the incident demonstrates that Bachmann's voice is valuable enough to counterfeit, and it marks the second time in a week that former top aides have complained her name is being misused.

On Friday, campaign manager Keith Nahigian directed a lawyer to ask South Carolina radio stations to take down an advertisement he said created the false impression she is endorsing the former House speaker.

CHARLESTON, SC -- Mitt Romney stuck to form Thursday by maintaining his focus on President Obama amid a tumultuous day in the GOP primary that saw Rick Perry bow out, Newt Gingrich surging and the results of the Iowa caucuses called into question.

Romney did what he usually does, keeping his focus on Obama, while deploying surrogates to question rivals and rolling out a new endorsement to help maintain the air of inevitability he's built around his campaign.

"Where is [President Obama]? He is at Disney World," Romney said. "He is giving a speech today. Guess where is gonna be giving a speech? ... He is giving a speech in Fantasyland. Alright, now think about that. He is going to be in Fantasyland and it is obviously appropriate because he has been living in a sort of fantasy land these last few years.  He will be talking about what a great job he is doing on the economy. Has he not been out here?  Has he not seen nine-point-nine percent unemployment in South Carolina?"
 
Romney stuck to a tried-and-tested strategy on a roller coaster ride of a day on the campaign trail that saw Texas Gov. Rick Perry drop out of the campaign and endorse Gingrich, the former speaker of the House: Focus on Obama, roll out a major endorsement, and let his surrogates take on the other Republican candidates.
 
Romney's rally this morning with volunteers and supporters was delayed slightly, and the candidate delivered his remarks just as Perry's press conference was getting underway. After the rally, Romney was asked to respond to the Texas governor's exit.
 
"He's a great conservative. A great man," Romney said. "He made a real contribution -- he already has -- to his state and to our country."
 
Romney did not respond when asked his thoughts on Perry's decision to endorse Gingrich, whom new NBC News/Marist polling shows cutting into Romney's once-sizable lead here in South Carolina.
 
Joined this morning by a phalanx of top-drawer endorsers of his own, including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and the newest member of team Romney, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Romney dinged Gingrich on the speaker's job creation claims during Monday's debate.
 
"[President Obama] may bump into Speaker Gingrich down there in Fantasyland. I only say that because the speaker was talking about all the jobs that he helped create in the Reagan years.  He had been in Congress two years when Reagan came to office. The idea that he was the author of Reaganomics -- not real likely," Romney said. "The idea that people in Washington think that somehow they are responsible after they have been there for two years for creating millions of jobs -- it is the kind of fantasy that happens. If you have been there too long I think you get this mindset that you’re really creating the vitality of the nation."
 
Romney left the heavy hitting on Gingrich to former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, the pioneer of attacks on Gingrich for the Romney campaign, along with New York Rep. Peter King. They attacked Gingrich's "erratic" behavior as speaker during a conference call with supporters, echoing language Sununu used in early December, when Gingrich first began to rise in the polls. This time, however, it was King who delivered the toughest blow.
 
"You just go down the list of people who served with him and the overwhelming number. We had ... well over 218 Republicans in the Congress when Newt was the speaker, and you can’t find more than a handful who will come to his defense. And it has nothing to do with ideology, nothing to do with philosophy, it’s all the erratic, self-serving narcissism of Newt,” King said.
 
Sununu additionally called on Gingrich to release the records of a 1997 ethics investigation into his conduct, which they said could become fodder for President Obama's campaign in a general election.
 
"We ought to at least wring out the laundry now," Sununu said. "He ought to ask for the release of the complete records of the ethics process and get that out in public so that he doesn’t become a vulnerable candidate if he wins the nomination and doesn’t become vulnerable to an October Surprise."

Mark Wilson / AP

In this Jan. 7, 1997 photo, House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and his wife Marianne leave their home for Capitol Hill.

Updated Thursday at 1:15 p.m. ET

In excerpts of an interview scheduled to air on Thursday night, Marianne Gingrich claims that her ex-husband, Newt Gingrich, sought an "open marriage" before their own relationship ended. 

In the interview with ABC News, Marianne Gingrich claims that when the then-House speaker told her of a long-term, six-year affair he was having with a congressional staffer (Callista Bisek, now his third wife), he asked if he could remain married to Marianne and continue the affair. 

"I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I do,'" Marianne Gingrich told ABC News. "He wanted an open marriage and I refused."

Marianne Gingrich, the former speaker's second wife, also alleged that her ex-husband conducted his affair "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington."

She also said Gingrich moved to divorce her just months after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  "He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress," she said. "He knew."

According to Marianne Gingrich, her relationship with him began while Newt Gingrich was still married, but in divorce proceedings, with his first wife, Jackie. At the time, Jackie Gingrich was being treated for cancer.

In a second interview with The Washington Post, Marianne Gingrich said her ex-husband asked for a divorce in May 1999, shortly before giving a speech on family values.

She asked in that conversation with The Washington Post, "How could he ask me for a divorce on Monday and within 48 hours give a speech on family values and talk about how people treat people?"

In an interview with NBC's TODAY on Thursday, before the ABC News excerpts were released, Newt Gingrich vowed that he won't say "anything negative" about his former wife.

According to The Washington Post, at a campaign stop in South Carolina on Thursday, he called the statements by Marianne Gingrich, "tawdry and inappropriate," but wouldn't go further. His third wife, Callista Gingrich, stood a few feet behind him.

As word spread Wednesday about the interview with Marianne Gingrich, the campaign responded with something of a "prebuttal."

In advance of that interview, the campaign released a statement Wednesday night from Gingrich's daughters from his first marriage, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman.

They wrote:

The failure of a marriage is a terrible and emotional experience for everyone involved.  Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes differing memories of events. 

We will not say anything negative about our father’s ex-wife.  He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves.

ABC News or other campaigns may want to talk about the past, just days before an important primary election.  But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future– about job creation, lower taxes, and about who can defeat Barack Obama by providing the sharpest contrast to his damaging, extreme liberalism.  We are confident this is the conversation the people of South Carolina are interested in having. 

Our father is running for President because of his grandchildren – so they can inherit the America he loves.  To do that, President Obama must be defeated.  And as the only candidate in the race, including Obama, who has actually helped balance the national budget, create jobs, reform welfare, and cut taxes and spending, Newt felt compelled to run - to serve his country and safeguard his grandchildren's future.

David Goldman / AP

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry pauses while announcing he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in North Charleston, S.C.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET 

Texas Governor Rick Perry announced Thursday morning that he is dropping out of the presidential race and is endorsing Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination.

"There is no viable path forward for me," he told supporters on Thursday. "I gave fully of myself for a cause worthy of this country," he added. Perry said it was time for him to make a "strategic retreat."

Spokesman Ray Sullivan told reporters after the announcement that money was a factor; that the campaign had gone through "the bulk of our friends." He added that Perry is not yet ruling out running for re-election as governor or making another play for the White House in four years.

Of Gingrich, Perry said Thursday, "Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?" Perry continued, "There is forgiveness for those who seek God." He applauded Gingrich as "a conservative visionary who can transform our country." 

The former House speaker watched Perry's speech from his campaign bus, parked outside of Beaufort, S.C. He said he was "honored and humbled" by the endorsement. He called Perry a "great patriot."

Gingrich's candidacy has been boosted by strong debate performances, with another debate scheduled for Thursday. But he's likely to receive more unflattering attention when ABC News airs an interview with his second wife, Marianne Gingrich. In the interview, Marianne Gingrich says Gingrich asked her for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress, and she refused.

Story: Gingrich ex-wife says he sought 'open' relationship

Perry's withdrawal and endorsement of Gingrich is a further sign that he's emerging as the main rival to Romney, who has failed to persuade many Republicans of his conservative credentials.

Perry had faced calls to drop out of the race to compel conservative voters, whose support has been divided among several conservative candidates, to rally behind Gingrich in hopes of stopping Romney. Recent polls show Gingrich gaining steam heading into the South Carolina primary, but he still trails Romney by about 10 percentage points.

Saturday's contest has been seen as the pivotal battle in the race, following what had initially been declared a narrow victory for Romney in Iowa, the first nominating contest, and a solid Romney win in last week's New Hampshire primary. Since 1980, no Republican has won the presidential nomination without a victory in the state.

But Republican officials said Thursday that Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, edged the former Massachusetts governor in Iowa by 34 votes, though no winner was declared because some votes remain missing.

Story: Santorum declares victory after revised Iowa caucus total

Perry entered the race last August to great fanfare and high poll numbers. But his standing quickly fell after a series of campaign blunders. During a nationally televised debate in early November, he could not remember the name of the third Cabinet department he had pledged to eliminate. "Oops," he told the audience. He later admitted of the gaffe, "I stepped in it."

Perry finished fifth in both Iowa and New Hampshire and, at one at one point said he was going to go back to Texas to reassess his path forward, but then headed to South Carolina instead.

Recommended: Rick Perry slideshow

Perry made his announcement to withdraw from the race just hours before Thursday night's GOP debate. He was joined on stage by his wife Anita and son, Griffin, and stressed that the Republican Party "transcends any one individual."

He said that "the campaign has never been about the candidates," and lamented, "a calling never guarantees a particular outcome."

A prominent conservative blogger joined the ranks of Republicans urging Rick Perry to end his campaign for president on Wednesday, prompting the Texas governor's campaign to reiterate that it has "no intention of leaving the race."

Perry spokesman Mark Miner rejected a new call by Erick Erickson, the editor of the conservative blog RedState, for Perry to drop out of the race and endorse former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

"Pundits are not going to decide this race, the people of SC are going to decide this race," Miner told NBC News. "We have no intention of leaving the race ... We are staying in the race until the primary."

Erickson called for Perry to drop out in a post on his blog this afternoon. The pundit argued that if Perry were to drop out before tomorrow night's CNN debate, it would have time to impact that gathering and Saturday's South Carolina primary in a way that would help give rise to Gingrich as the alternative to Mitt Romney, while restoring some of the political clout Perry had bled over the course of his campaign.

"Either Rick Perry will leave the race Sunday with no political capital and no deposit of goodwill an endorsement would bring, or he will choose to strike one final blow for limited government conservatism," he wrote.

Erickson wouldn't be the first conservative to urge Perry to leave the campaign. But his words carry some more significance considering it was at a gathering of RedState bloggers this summer where Perry launched his candidacy.

Miner dismissed Erickson's criticism, though, saying, "The governor is focused on the people of South Carolina, not a pundit sitting behind a computer."

But Erickson wasn't the only significant voice to call for Perry's ouster, reflecting the pressure under which the Texas governor is falling in the closing days of the South Carolina primary.

Major General James E. Livingston, a medal of honor recipient who was the state chair of Rick Perry's Veterans coalition, is dropping his support and going to the Gingrich campaign. Veterans are a major voting bloc in South Carolina's GOP primary, and Perry had courted that community assiduously.

Regarding his shift, Livingston said he wanted a candidate who can "be the one that can help take this crowd down in D.C." He said Perry "just was not able to reach that point in his political activities here in South Carolina," and called Gingrich "a known product."

"He's been there and done that," Livingston said of the former speaker, whom he'll endorse in a Friday night event aboard the USS Yorktown.

Asked for comment, Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan told NBC News that the governor "has the utmost respect for Gen. Livingston, his service and leadership, and he always will." 

Mitt Romney leads among likely voters in Saturday's South Carolina GOP primary, though Newt Gingrich trails in second by a diminishing margin, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

Thirty-three percent of likely S.C. Republican primary voters expressed support for Romney heading into the Jan. 21 contest, according to a TIME/CNN/ORC poll, followed by 23 percent for Gingrich, the former speaker of the House.

That represents a narrowed lead for Romney over his next-closest competitor in the Palmetto State compared to the same poll conducted after the Iowa caucuses. Romney led former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum by 18 points in that poll, and held a 19-point advantage over Gingrich in that poll, conducted Jan. 4-5.

First Thoughts: Newt-mentum returns?

This new poll, conducted Jan. 13-17, reflects the narrowing race in South Carolina just days before voting in the state, where Romney hopes to pull off victory after having won both previous nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Completing that kind of trifecta could allow Romney to drive his opponents from the race.

The poll is also reflective of the closing momentum Gingrich is enjoying in South Carolina on the strength of more pointed criticism of Romney and other GOP foes. Gingrich also won praise for a strong showing in Monday night's debate, a performance he's hoping to duplicate in a debate on Thursday evening.

Gingrich's surge, though, has also prompted the Romney campaign to revive its offensive against the former House speaker in hopes of parrying his momentum before voting this weekend.

To that end, 35 percent of likely primary voters said they might change their mind on a candidate before Saturday, versus 57 percent who said they will definitely vote for the candidate for whom they expressed support in the poll.

Rounding out the field in South Carolina are Santorum at 16 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 13 percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 6 percent.

NBC News and Marist College will release the results of a new poll conducted jointly on Thursday morning.

Looking ahead to the next primary, Florida's Jan. 31 primary, Romney enjoys an even stronger advantage, according to CNN/TIME/ORC figures also released Wednesday.

Forty-three percent of registered Republicans likely to vote in the Florida primary (which is limited to Republicans) said they back Romney. His next-closest competitors are Santorum at 19 percent and Gingrich at 18 percent. Nine percent of Florida Republicans would vote for Paul, who's not competing in the contest, while just 2 percent plan to vote for Perry.

The Florida poll, which was also conducted Jan. 13-17, has a 5 percent margin of error. The sample of likely South Carolina primary voters has a 4.5 percent margin of error.