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Just as the mainstream media has gotten used to the notion that the Obama presidency is weak, and a Republican might be a palatable substitute, so long as that Republican is Mitt Romney, along comes Herman Cain.
Cain just kicked Romney off the top spot as leading Republican contender in a Fox news poll.
The information that the runner up was Newt Gingrich might cause
you to wonder about the objectivity of said poll, but the Cain
victory repeats results from a Quinnipiac poll in Ohio that has him
beating Romney also.
Ohio is one of those states that you have to win to be
President.
So excitement just got a different spelling, you now spell it H-E-R-M-A-N.
Cain is a red meat guy, i.e. he says things that the mainstream
media is obliged to label as popular with the base (code for
nutty), and behaves like he's not entirely serious, which political
journalists love.
The not-entirely-serious candidate last time was Sarah Palin,
except she didn't know it. The other thing about Herman Cain is
that though he leads the polls two months out from the Iowa
primaries, many people don't consider him a serious candidate.
Mitt Romney is serious. He has a ton of money. He's been looking more presidential lately. But he's dull. He doesn't look like his heart is in it. He seems mechanical.
Cain shoots from the hip. He's said that the Occupy Wall Street protesters want to take away peoples Cadillacs.
He's said the job of his campaign is to let Herman Cain be Herman Cain. It's been reported that his advisers are not allowed to address him directly when travelling with him.
His 9-9-9 flat tax plan has been found by economists to cause some Americans to pay more tax.
Flat tax is to Republicans today what flat earth was to people in the Middle Ages: an article of faith, and an incontrovertible fact.
Also, Cain recently released a campaign video that features his
chief of staff Mark Block smoking while a woman sings I am
America:
Besides a high kook factor, Cain has what the pros call a
narrative. He's black. He's an ex-conservative talk show host.
Cain was the CEO of Godfathers Pizza, a mid-western chain that he helped take from a half-pie (forgive the pun) operation to become a fast food force.
He has a book out called This is Herman Cain! My Road to the White House. Republicans are saying he's spending too much time in the South flogging the book, when he should be in the mid-west bagging Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Frankly, in an Obama/Cain debate, Obama would emerge looking like Socrates.
There are reports Cain's campaign is a model of now NOT to run a campaign. Supporters organise $2,500 a plate dinners to raise funds; he turns up -not at the restaurant, but the airport.
He's low on funds. He's a rogue. He doesn't stick to the script. I doubt he'll be around in two months. He's a sign of the desire for magic in the Republican Party, for charisma, and for danger.
Mitt Romney has none of these qualities. But Americans elected the exciting guy last time; look what happened.
If Mitt Romney keeps reminding them of this small fact, he'll make boring thrilling.
Then Obama will have a fight on his hands.
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