Instead of coming back to Texas, Gov. Rick Perry told reporters in Iowa Wednesday morning that he's going on to New Hampshire and South Carolina to continue campaigning.

"I just said I was going to reassess last night," Perry said. "I reassessed."

Perry said it was not a hard decision to stay in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

He told reporters it came to him while running at local park, "where you all should have been this morning getting your exercise in."

As for the "path forward" Perry referred to in last night's non-concession speech, "Y'all will just have to wait and see. It's there. It's clearly there."

Perry was the one-time frontrunner for the GOP nomination until his poor showings in debates and other gaffes on the campaign trail.

He said he will be debating in both New Hampshire and South Carolina over the next several weeks.

"We're going to give America a choice in this election," Perry said.

He also tried to explain the reason behind his dismal fifth-place showing in the Iowa caucus, despite outspending his political rivals.

"This is a quirky place and a quirky process, to say the least," he said.

"A lot of people who were there admitted they were Democrats," Perry said.

He said ahead of him are "actual primaries" with "real Republicans voting."

Perry said he will be appealing to serious conservatives in states like South Carolina.

"I feel very comfortable that the values and the people and the time we spent there," he said.

A presidential expert and political science professor at Trinity University, Dr. David Crockett said he is surprised Perry is not dropping out.

"That would be the expectation. Come back to Austin, have a press conference in the next couple of days," Crockett said.

He said Perry will live to fight on, "but it's a high risk gamble."

Crockett said history shows every U.S. presidential nominee, except for Bill Clinton, has won both Iowa and New Hampshire.