THE DAILY BLADE: Herman Cain Rocks 'Em Like A Hurricane
With his boffo performance at last month’s GOP debate in SC, relatively unknown presidential hopeful Herman Cain is starting to capture the imagination of conservative Republicans:
† A Gallup poll released last week shows that while only 29 percent Republicans know who Cain is – in comparison, Palin has the highest name recognition (96 percent) and putative front runner Mitt Romney is not far behind at (83 percent) – he leads the pack in “positive intensity score,” meaning that he has the highest favorability rating amongst those who recognize his name. Cain’s positive intensity score – a measure of the enthusiasm a candidate generates - is 24, compared to 16 for Sarah Palin and 14 for Mitt Romney.
† In last week’s Public Policy Polling survey of IA Republican voters, Cain tied with Sarah Palin for second place (15 percent) - just behind Mitt Romney (21 percent) – and he beat out Newt Gingrich (12 percent), Michele Bachmann (11 percent), Tim Pawlenty (10 percent) and Ron Paul (8 percent).
† And when Zogby recently asked 2096 likely GOP primary voters “If the Republican primary for President were held today, for whom would you vote?” in an online survey, the top three spots went to Cain (19 percent), with Christ Christie (16 percent) and Romney (11 percent).
When Mike Huckabee announced he would not contest for the White House this time around, the chattering classes immediately began speculating which candidate would pick up his supporters; Cain was not mentioned by leading pundits. But taken together, these polls suggests that RedStateNews founder Erick Erickson is spot-on in anointing Cain the new Huckabee.
And the MSM – which caught on to Huckabee’s staying power very late in the game last time around – isn’t going to make the same mistake with Cain, despite his being disdained as “entertainment” by conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer and deemed “unserious” by former Bush 43 strategist Karl Rove.
The Washington Post notes Cain is gaining clout as a protest candidate, because of his “unexpectedly strong showing in early polls and enthusiastic support of the tea party, with which his fiscal uber-conservatism perfectly aligns”:
Who’s calling the shots in the Republican Party - the elite establishment or the grass-roots activists? What does the popularity of a black tea party hero say about the movement’s relationship with race? Is the goal of the upstarts in the Republican field the presidency or a cushy Fox news gig? And in the tea party era, do quixotic candidates tilt at windmills or reap electoral windfalls? …
“Herman generates incredible excitement,” said Mark Meckler, co-founder and national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, which has more than 3,500 chapters around the country and does not endorse candidates. “He is a lot more like us than anyone who has run for president in our lifetimes.” …
“He’s not to be underestimated,” said Ryan Rhodes, chairman of the Iowa Tea Party, who is hosting Cain, along with several other candidates, on a bus tour through the state next month.
The New York Times reports “there are signs of what Mr. Cain, in his booming baritone, calls “Old Man Mo - Momentum!”:
Many pundits and voters declared him the winner of the first Republican debate last month. And he won the straw polls at the Tea Party Patriots convention in February and the Conservative Values Conference in Iowa in March.
If few people think Mr. Cain can win the nomination, he is satisfying voters’ desire to fall in love with a candidate. Their passion for him says as much about what the Republican field is lacking as it does about any specifics he is offering. …
Tom Keane, a school board member, state representative and selectman from Bow, said he had been asked to endorse Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, and had worked for Mr. Romney in the past. But he had turned out twice in one day to see Mr. Cain and, like many, spoke about him rapturously. Mr. Keane praised his background and his ability to think analytically.
“All this is pulling me toward him in a way I’m not pulled toward other candidates,” he said. “All good candidates, but I’m not pulled toward them.”
“You hear people talk about the other candidates as just suits,” Mr. Keane said. “You can’t say that about Herman Cain. I want somebody who’s going to energize the party. A suit won’t do that.” …
Mr. Cain predicts he will finish in the top three or better in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. More and more voters seem to agree.
Cain’s snappy new campaign video invites conservative voters to board the “Cain Train”:
When I became President and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, it was supposed to go bankrupt. But I didn’t get the memo. We turned it around with common sense business principles. And we can turn this country around the same way. …
My great, great grandparents were slaves. And now I’m running for President of the United States of America. Is this a great country or what?
As that train wends its way to IA it looks like it’s going to be standing room only. As Cain noted, he had drawn a crowd of 15,000 people when he announced his candidacy, whereas elite favorite Romney … not so much.
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