(CNN) - It's crunch time for Rick Perry.
The Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate kicks off a 44 stop bus tour across Iowa starting next Wednesday.
The Perry campaign says the tour will begin Dec. 14 in Council Bluffs, in the western part of the state, and will run through Saturday December 31. Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses kick off the presidential primary and caucus season.
The Perry campaign has been running television commercials non-stop in the Hawkeye state the past couple of weeks, and an independent super PAC supporting the Texas governor is also up with spots on Iowa TV. The campaign has also brought hundreds of supporters and volunteers from Texas up to Iowa to help the candidate's get out the vote efforts.
Perry surged to front-runner status in national and Iowa polling soon after he launched his bid for the White House in mid-August, but after stumbles in Republican presidential debates this autumn, his numbers faded.
A CNN/Time/ORC International Poll released Wednesday indicated that 9% of likely Iowa GOP caucus goers said that Perry was their choice for their party's nominee, putting Perry in fourth place behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 33%, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 20% and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 17%.
Most political analysts and pundits say that Perry needs a strong finish in Iowa to keep his bid for the GOP nomination alive.
– Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @PSteinhauserCNN
From CNN Politics
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I guess he has money and time to waste because we all know it is not going anywhere, Rick Perry WILL NOT be the republican nominee!
Rick: Donald Trump is a jerk and thanks for blowing him off.
Rick: I saw your anti-gay ad, and now beginning to wonder if you are a jerk. Americans are sick of divisive politics and the politicians that promote them. You want to be President? ... act like one.
Save the gas Perry... I don't think your candidacy is goin gto make it out of Iowa. You've gaffed yourself right out of contention.
The Rick Perry bus tour should have banners on the side of the bus stating, "No really, I am not gay. At least that is what my boyfriend says."
Another Rick Perry banner for his bus tour, "Vote for the best Christian Right Evangelical Conservative who can't remember his own name."
Maybe Rick's bus driver and his campaign manager should both ask for some directions at the next stop instead of meandering all over the countryside.
In light of Gov. Perry's consistently low polling numbers, Perry seems to have turned into a paid attack dog on President Obama. If he were campaigning to win the nomination, don't you think it would make more sense for him that he would campaign a little harder *against* his opponents at this late stage? I know he comes across as , uh, less than the best, at times, but I am going to give him creidt for not being completely stupid. He's getting paid to be an Obama attack dog.
Is Perry leading the polls in Texas? Just wondering....
Perry please take your bus with Trump, Romney, Bachman, Cain, Huntsman, Newt, Santorum,Palin and let not forget all the republican congress to the unemployment line.
Rick who?
I hope Rick can see the sights at the highest point in Iowa, Charles Mound. Then he can whip on down to Waterloo and take in the home of the Fighting Sullivans. From there, He should turn west and go home.
To Gov. Perry:
Get off the bus, someone need the gas.
Get off the cross, someone needs the wood.
Whatever you keep stepping in; well, you can keep that.
"Perry bus tour to crisscross Iowa"
This is just a preemptory excuse for the foreseeable debacle when the Cowboy Fonzie bus gets lost in Iowa because they've been holding the map upside down the whole time.
Everyone is trying to find an explanation for why Rick continues, or for why he ever got in the race in the first place. The leading theory seems to be "pure ego", while the more paranoid theory revolves around some plot by the Guardians of Plutocracy to force the party as hard right as possible. In that scenario, Perry, Cain, Santorum, and Bachmann were only put in the race to make Gingrich and/or Romney look like a palatable Repugnant candidate. I have no idea what the answer is, but the whole spectacle is a disgrace and embarrassment to America.
save your gas $$, don't bother!
please scurry back to Texas you rat!
Criss-cross it? First he has to find it!
No oopsie, got a D in college economics clowns for president! Ain't gonna happen, perry.
hey Rick we tax payers in Texas are getting bored with paying your travel and security bills especially when gas has now starting creeping back up and unemployment here is in the mid 8%. Might be time to give up this failed deal you're doing and come back to Texas and create some more jobs like you said you did in the past.