(Image source: Twitter @GovernorPerry)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

Well, it looked like a graceful exit. Except that it wasn’t.

Rick Perry placed a distant fifth in Tuesday night’s Iowa caucuses.

And in a speech to supporters -- he sounded less than confident in the campaign. CNN has the video.

PERRY: “With the voters’ decision tonight in Iowa I’ve decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight’s caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race...”

And that led many in the press to conclude...

Fox News: “The Republican presidential field could be thinning out.”

KRIV: “Rick Perry may be finished as a presidential candidate.”

MSNBC: “You know, you could tell, he didn't want it.”

But -- it seems -- he does still want it. Late Wednesday morning the Governor’s Twitter account read...

“And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State...Here we come South Carolina!!!”

Linked to the Tweet -- a pic of the candidate in jogging gear and a characteristic thumbs-up.

Confusion ensued -- until several news outlets confirmed with Perry staffers the Governor was, indeed, planning to move forward. And Politico notes, that decision is likely to hurt the man who took 2nd in Iowa Tuesday night.

“Perry’s decision to campaign in South Carolina is a major blow to Rick Santorum’s hopes of consolidating conservatives behind his candidacy. If Perry and Newt Gingrich are still in the GOP race when it heads south on Jan. 21, the base will likely be divided among conservatives.”

But before South Carolina -- there’s New Hampshire -- which holds its primary January 10th.

And as The Boston Globe points out... “Perry ... is not expected to campaign heavily in the Granite State...”

But he has the money -- reportedly to the tune of $3.5 million -- to slug it out at least til South Carolina. He’s made no bones about pinning most of his campaign hopes there. A Houston Chronicle blogger suggests -- he’s at least got a shot.

“...he’s a charismatic Southern governor, who openly talks about state’s rights, is just as conservative on the social issues as Santorum, and he hails from a protestant denomination.”