Cain smoking ad brings flood of donations

The Hill ^ | 10/28/11 | Justin Sink

[freespirited]

While Herman Cain's viral Web ad — in which chief of staff Mark Block pointedly takes a drag from a cigarette after extolling the presidential candidate's virtues — might have raised eyebrows among political strategists and heckles in Internet comment sections, the ad seems to have also raised the rate at which the insurgent campaign is bringing in fundraising dollars.

Cain has brought in nearly $2 million within the last week alone, nearly doubling his weekly returns earlier this month, his campaign told The Wall Street Journal. By contrast, Cain only brought in $2.8 million over the entire third quarter.

"Our donations online have shot up a lot since that ad,” Block told the Journal. “The money we are getting is wildly beyond our expectations."

Cain's campaign has argued that the ad was a manifestation of a nontraditional, down-to-earth style that has caught the Republican zeitgeist. The polls seem to echo that analysis, with Cain leading Mitt Romney 24 percent to 20 in a Fox News survey released earlier this week.

The candidate said earlier this week that the ad "did a great job" and represented his grassroots message.

"We have a saying in my campaign — let Herman be Herman. This is the attitude that I have when I do debates. This is the attitude I have when I do interviews: Let Herman be Herman. Mark Block is my chief of staff. And we also say, 'Let Mark be Mark,' " Cain said on Fox News. "Mark happens to be a smoker. He knows it's a bad habit, but he smokes. And so we weren't trying to send any subliminal message whatsoever. Many of us found it hilarious, because we know Mark Block."

Block said the ad enforced the idea of Cain as a "different kind of presidential candidate."

“Yes, the smoking part of that ad was controversial — and I don’t in any way condone smoking — but the message that Herman Cain is a different kind of presidential candidate is certainly resonating across the country,” Block said.

[re_nortex]

I DESPISE smoking Nazis.

I'm disgusted with how America has devolved since the era of my youth (the 40's and early 50's).

Back then homosexuals were widely and rightly characterized as queers. They were considered deviants and sinners. In contrast a good host always had ashtrays and a cigarette lighter on the coffee tables for guests.

Now smokers are considered to be pariahs and sodomites are embraced by many. Thank God for Free Republic and Jim Robinson (pictured below using his alternate identity :)), a bastion of sanity in an upside down world.

[ardara]

How can you say Obama smokes? I have not read about it in my paper.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Never, ever give up.

[buffaloguy]

The ad is a thumb in the eye to the feds and those who would control our every move. I think it was brilliant.

[PLD]

LOL!!You must be reading the NYT..Obama is still messing with his boy friend too...

[TheOldLady]

Click the Pic               Thanks a ton, Slings and Arrows

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[DrewsMum]

Saying BS, doesn’t make it any less true

[Balding_Eagle]

How else can you explain his enticements to illegals?

[tflabo]

Personally I didn’t much like the ad itself because it didn’t have much content. However if it brings gain to Cain then so be it!

[PLD]

I wish he would just disappear off the earth that would even be better..Go back to hell were he came from..

I don't normally watch anything he does but when I do catch something he sure does look wasted..And have you noticed he is letting his hair get gray so as to make him look like he has been hard at work..More than likely he sprays it gray..

[sodpoodle]

Love your tag line;)

Smoking kills my appetite - so does Obama.

[trisham]

Brilliant ad, and I love the way that Cain smiles at the end. VERY well done ad.

[Pride in the USA]

You gotta love Cain for being one bold candidate. He is what America needs right now.

[Norseman]

It was a brilliant ad. With one stroke, actually, one puff, I suppose, he gets:

1. The favorable attention of every persecuted smoker in the country, including a lot of Dems and Independents,

2. The favorable attention of everyone who’s fed up with politicians who won’t call BS to all the Politically Correct crap we have to put up with today,

and 3) Free distribution of his ad on both liberal and conservative news outlets as they attempt to dissect it.

Herman Cain: Once flavor of the week, now flavor of the month, soon to be flavor of the season...

[giotto]

It wasn't the smoking per se. It was the great Cain grin at the end. The grin that says, "In your face, PC nazis who want to outlaw smoking, not just in real life but even on TV." Let's hope he has the same rogue attitude about other PC-muzzled topics.

[momtothree]

“... BS to ll the Politically correct crap...”

Several people I know feel the commercial was a way of saying, “I’m not PC. I don’t hide behind a PC veil”. The “left” can only say so much about this ad since Obummer smokes... or use to smoke... or sometimes smokes.. whatever lie they are putting out this week.

[eyedigress]

Early on Herman Cain said he isn’t politically correct. He doesn’t know how. Herman Cain scares the hell out the establishment, all the while Obama runs to the cloak room to take a drag.

[mylife]

The bill passed Texas legislation by an unvetoable margin. PERIOD!!!!!!

[petitfour]

Has Obambi put on any extra weight? No way he has quit smoking. Or at least there’s no way he’s quit for more than 3 hours at a time. lol

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Please, stop lying. It's a lie, and you know it. Does it make you feel good knowing you are lying.

What do you have to gain by lying? We have an election to win and if you can't find a legitimate reason to criticize someone, just stop with the lies.

Our enemy is Obama.