Team Perry Scoffs at Erickson's Call for the Governor to Drop Out

Texas Gov. Rick Perry

GREER, SC - Team Perry scoffed at a plea from RedState's Erick Erickson for the Texas Governor to drop out of the GOP race and throw his support behind Newt Gingrich.

"Pundits aren't going to decide this race. The people of South Carolina are," Perry spokesman Mark Miner said.

"We are in this primary to win it. The Governor is focused on people of South Carolina, not a pundit who is sitting behind a computer somewhere."

The strong rebuke comes after Erikson suggested on his conservative blog that Perry could either call it quits before Thursday's GOP debate in Charleston and leave a hero, or stay in the race and be a spoiler.

It's a far cry from what the two sides were saying about each other just last month, with Erikson writing that he thought Perry had a "vastly better shot against Barack Obama than Mitt Romney," adding "of all the candidates running, I think [Perry] has one of the best shots."

Perry's campaign touted those words in a December 20th press release.

Erikson has not endorsed any candidate, and while it's now clear the conservative pundit is not on Perry's side, neither are the numbers in South Carolina.

A Real Clear Politics average of the polls out of the Palmetto State shows Mitt Romney leading with 29.7 percent, and Newt Gingrich in second with 22 percent.

The same average has Perry running dead last.