Former Texas Governor Rick Perry suspends Presidential bid

HOUSTON: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry has ended his second US presidency bid, becoming the first candidate to drop out of the large field of Republican Party candidates for 2016.

Perry, 65, the longest-serving governor (2000-2015) in Texas history, also withdrew from the 2012 Republican presidential nomination list after finishing fifth in Iowa caucuses, the first voting contest of the race.

"Today, I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States," Perry said yesterday in an address in St. Louis, Missouri.

"We have a tremendous field of candidates, probably the greatest group of men and women. I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, as long as we listen to the grassroots, listen to that cause of conservatism," Perry said.

His campaign has been struggling in the polls and he even failed to make the cut for last month's prime-time debate in Cleveland -- a major setback.

He appeared in the undercard debate, only to see Carly Fiorina, a former technology executive, have what many observers considered a breakout performance.

Over a dozen Republicans are in the race to contest in 2016 for the White House, including Indian-origin Bobby Jindal. The campaign so far has been dominated by real-estate tycoon Donald Trump, with whom Perry has clashed frequently.

Perry has called Trump "a cancer on conservatism" and his campaign "a barking carnival act."

His public attacks on the celebrity billionaire, however, did him no good in the polls.

Perry was polling at 13th out of the 17 major Republican candidates, according to a recent RealClearPolitics poll.