Many of Rick Perry's Inner Circle Leaving the Texas Governor

Still feeling the effects of the 2012 campaign

Texas Gov. Rick Perry finds himself at a fork in the road as he ponders his electoral future — and he may have to find his way without the full gang of political knife fighters who have had his back for over a decade.

Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, has been renowned for the loyalty and ruthlessness of his inner circle — a team regarded as one of the nation's most feared campaign operations. Steering the governor through a four-way reelection fight in 2006 and then a savage 2010 GOP primary campaign, the Perry gang became known as perhaps the most ferocious state-level political team in America.