By Peggy Fikac

Chronicle/Express-News Austin Bureau

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Rick Perry came in a crushing fifth in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday and said he’d return to Texas to see if there’s a path forward for this presidential campaign.

“With the voters’ decision tonight in Iowa, I decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight’s caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race,” Perry told a crowd at the Sheraton West Des Moines.

Perry earlier had said he planned to head to South Carolina in the hope of finding friendlier ground.

It was the first loss for Perry in nearly 30 years in public life. He was first elected to the Texas House in 1984 as a Democrat, then rose rapidly through the ranks of statewide office after becoming a Republican, winning offices as agriculture, lieutenant governor and governor. He first ascended to governor after George W. Bush became president.

His communications director, Ray Sullivan, had said earlier that the campaign was continuing to “assess and reassess” plans as numbers rolled in Tuesday night, looking at such things as the spread among candidates.

“We don’t plan on changing. You can always change in this business,” Sullivan said.

Perry’s campaign and an allied SuperPAC spent more than $6 million dollars over the last month in Iowa on advertising, hoping that a massive ad blitz combined with a barnstorming bus tour around the state would help repair a candidacy badly damaged by poor debate performances.

That breaks down to about $480 on advertising per vote they received in the Iowa caucuses, according to an analysis by BuzzFeed.

Perry, who swaggered his way to the top of the polls after entering the race in August, has struggled to regain his footing after being brought down by missteps on the stump and a series of troublesome debate performances.

His inability at a Michigan forum to remember all the federal departments he wants to shut down – which he punctuated with an “oops” – quickly took its place among the most embarrassing moments in the history of presidential debates.

Perry had scheduled campaign stops through Friday in South Carolina and he was scheduled to head to New Hampshire for two debates this weekend ahead of next week’s primary there.

Sullivan said earlier in the evening the campaign had purchased television time in South Carolina to continue efforts to become the conservative standard-bearer for the GOP. He said he expected Perry’s “conservative outsider, pro-jobs, pro-family message” to resonate in the Palmetto State.

But experts said it might be beyond difficult to re-start his campaign in South Carolina despite the affinity some voters may have for a Texas governor proudly playing the religion card.

Dennis Goldford, professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines, said an Iowa performance in the bottom tier amounted to confirmation of “what everybody has thought since those early debate performances – he simply was not ready for a national stage.”

“If he still has money, he can try to make South Carolina his Alamo and hope it has a better outcome than the original one did,” Goldford said.

Longtime GOP consultant Chip Felkel of Greenville, S.C., said South Carolina “should have been ready-made for Rick Perry” as a “Southern conservative, no-nonsense, shoot from the hip” candidate.

“But his slip ups in the debates have cost him dearly. He’s got some very notable individuals who signed on early when he was at his peak, but you don’t see a lot of visibility out of his folks right now, and you certainly don’t get a sense of a whole lot of enthusiasm on their part with regard to that candidacy,” Felkel said.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said by email it’s difficult to re-start a campaign in South Carolina: “The Palmetto State tends to look first to the top finalists from Iowa and New Hampshire. They take pride in having picked the eventual GOP nominee since Reagan. A poor showing in Iowa and a skip in New Hampshire is not the strongest way to enter contention in South Carolina.”

Some Perry supporters believe that Perry will stay in the race, despite his poor showing in Iowa.

“He’s got to make a strong run in South Carolina — and that’s going to be his final push and if he does well, he can go on, and if he doesn’t, it’s done,” said He’s going to stick to South Carolina….I think still think Rick has a shot. At the end of the day, a lot of Repuiblicans are still not with Romney,” said Jeff Miller, a key finance director for Perry’s campaign and his campaign chair in CA.

Miller was driving around Iowa with other Republican lawmakers from California when he heard Perry’s statements to supporters. He said he still believes the governor will go on: “All the people I talked to tonight in Iowa, everyone of the voters says I really like him, but I wonder if he can beat Obama based on his debate performances. I think they want to see that..South Carolina is a real primary. Iowa is 110,000 people voted tonight. You have to give it a push..you can’t go this far…”

Perry offered an optimistic message on caucus day, when he rallied volunteers who came by the hundreds to help his campaign, visited workers at two businesses and spoke at two caucuses – including on at which Ann Romney also appeared. He occasionally seemed emotional, including when he talked of the military veterans who supported him, and their sacrifice.

Throughout the day, his message was one of going forward.

“I don’t get confused that this is a marathon. It’s going to go on for some time as we lay out our vision for America,” Perry told employees at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines.

Perry described his political battle both in epic and personal as he rallied volunteers the morning of the caucuses.

“Folks, we are going to take America back,” Perry said. “This is Omaha Beach.”

Perry was introduced by his wife, Anita, and he likened their long courtship to wooing American voters.

“I truly am the luckiest man in the world to have this woman by my side for 45-plus years, 16 of which we were just dating. She’s a hard sell, folks,” Perry said. “If it’s 16 years to talk her into marrying me, then however (many) months we need to do to talk Americans into our vision, that’s what we’re going to do.”

-Additional reporting by The San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci in San Francisco, and the San Antonio Express-News’ Nolan Hicks in San Antonio.