Like Fred Thompson’s failed campaign four years ago, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s late entry into the presidential race was accompanied by a quick vault to the top of polls, followed by a precipitous fall. His decision to drop out before the South Carolina primary actually makes Perry’s performance far worse than Thompson, who performed better in Iowa and New Hampshire and garnered 16 percent of the South Carolina vote. I think Perry’s demise should cement the idea that in modern campaigns, there’s no real room for a late entrance.

Whenever there’s talk of a late entrance, people always talk about the fact that Bill Clinton entered the race in October 1991 and still won — but that was simply a different era.