Gov. Rick Perry Makes Last Dash for Iowa Evangelical Vote: 'Forced to Accept' Gays in the Military 'Is an Offensive Thing'

Taking up a populist message on the stump, Perry called the link between Washington and Wall Street a "den of thieves," and accused Romney and Gingrich of being part of the problem.

"Wall Street bailout was the single greatest act of thievery in American history -- and Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were for it. That's what insiders do. They take care of each other," Perry told a group of roughly 50 people at Johnson's Restaurant in Elkader, Iowa. "It's unjust. It's got to stop and that's the reason I offer myself as an outsider who will walk up there, who doesn't have any connections with the folks on Wall Street, or on K Street for that matter."

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The self-proclaimed "Washington outsider" has started taking advantage of the ever-fluid race. As the Iowa caucuses draws near, and Gingrich experiences the same softening of support Perry experienced earlier this fall, the Texas governor said the race is still wide open.

"We're going to go on, so, you know, regardless of how we-- we finish," Perry said. "That's why we got in this thing... I know what I'm doing. I'm pressing on."