The field of GOP presidential hopefuls became a little less crowded today as Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced that he would cease his campaign to become his party's nominee for the 2012 election.

Perry joins Atlanta businessman Herman Cain, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Ambassador Jon Huntsman as GOP candidates to drop out of the race.

Perry finished the Iowa caucuses fifth and received less than one percent of the total vote cast in New Hampshire to claim sixth.

Perry made waves when he first entered the campaign, but a series of missteps, including a particularly embarrassing moment during a Nov. 9 debate where he could only remember two of the three federal agencies he proposed to eliminate, derailed his campaign before the first ballot was cast.

"Commerce, Education and the - what's the third one there?” Perry awkwardly asked during the Nov. 9 debate.

His campaign never recovered.

The Texas governor was panned for releasing a campaign commercial that complained about the repeal of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, saying “gays can serve openly in our military, but our children can't openly celebrate Christmas.”

The ad, an appeal to social conservatives, drew some 750,000 “dislikes” on the video sharing website YouTube and was the basis for dozens of parodies.

The next primary contest is South Carolina, where Perry had hoped to solidify his place in the contest, but polling predicts another finish at the bottom of the ladder for the Texas governor. The GOP front-runner, former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney, is currently leading in the state, according to a Politico survey.

Perry also endorsed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at a press conference held today in North Carolina.

Top photo: Texas Gov. Rick Perry at a CPAC event in 2011 (via Facebook)