Being popular on Twitter just doesn’t cut it anymore—at least if you’re a presidential hopeful.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was one of the most mentioned candidates on Twitter over the last fours months, is dropping out of the presidential race two days before the South Carolina primary.
“We must rise to the occasion and elect a conservative champion to put our country back on track,” Perry said in a press conference today. “I’m not done fighting for the cause of conservatism. I have just begun to fight.”
Since the Republican race heated up last fall, Perry has been an Internet favorite. He has consistently ranked among the top three candidates mentioned on Twitter, often right behind businessman Herman Cain whose triumphant Twitter surge was only matched by his stormy fall.
Perry’s announcement placed him on top of Twitter one last time, with more than 160,000 people mentioning him over the last three hours, according to statistics from Topsy. And like all the many times before, tweeters couldn’t help but make jokes at the 61-year-old governor’s expense.
“Damn. First Bachmann, then Perry. It’s official – God can’t pick candidates for shit,” tweeted William Wolfrum (@wolfrum).
“Rick Perry dropped out of Presidential race. Says he’ll go back to doing what he loves most- writing racist epithets on rocks,” tweeted writer Justin Stangel.
“Herman Cain on Rick Perry’s future: ‘Take it from me, he is going to get himself a lot of pity pussy,’” tweeted comedian Andy Borowitz.
Photo by Gage Skidmore