Rick Perry has withdrawn from the race for the Republican US presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich as the best man to take on Barack Obama in November's election.
The Texas governor ended his campaign at a news conference on Thursday in North Charleston, South Carolina, where the remaining four candidates are later due to participate in a televised debate prior to Saturday's primary vote.
"I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in this 2012 campaign. Therefore today I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich for president of the United States," Perry said.
"The journey leads me back to Texas, neither discouraged nor disenchanted.
"We must rise to the occasion and elect a conservative candidate to put this country back on track," he said, referring to Gingrich. "Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?"
Gingrich, the former House speaker, is considered the main conservative rival to frontrunner Mitt Romney. Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, and Ron Paul, a Texas congressman, are the remaining two candidates still in the race.
"Perry wants to see a conservative candidate win," said Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher, reporting from Columbia, South Carolina.
"According to [the latest polls], Newt Gingrich is just three points behind Romney in the race in South Carolina. By getting about four or five per cent of Rick Perry's votes, it puts Newt Gingrich in an incredibly strong position."
'Open marriage'
Perry's endorsement provided a boost for Gingrich on the same day that ABC News aired an interview with a former wife of the presidential hopeful, who said he had asked her to participate in an "open marriage" as he disclosed an affair with a congressional staffer who he is now married to.
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