Cain’s role is to soak up all the conservative oxygen in the race so that nobody to the right of Daniels and Romney can get any momentum. Looks like he will succeed.
He has no chance to be the nominee. But I doubt his supporters would be dissuaded by that reality.
I’m not hanging my hat totally on anyone at this point because it’s simply to early in the game. If I had to cast my vote based on this group tonight Cain would get my vote.
While I’m a big fan of Herman’s and I’d love to see him win it, I don’t think he has the name recognition and I think he has a tough row to hoe in front of him. I think he’d make a great VP choice for Sarah, though.
I didn’t or haven’t watched a minute of it. Completely forgot about it!!!
Not falling for the media desire to hold a horse race when the only thoroughbred has not decided whether she wants to go to the race track.
So you think some mysterious force is holding all the other conservatives out of the race so that Herman Cain can “soak up all the conservative oxygen in the race”? It is not like he’s throwing his money around buying votes like Romney or hogging air time like Trump. He goes from tea party meeting to tea party meeting, letting the people hear what he has to say. His strategy is simple, let his ideas for America do the talking. And where are all these so-called “conservatives” you mentioned? If any of the lesser known conservatives had guts, brains or any chance of winning, they would be out there right now, just like Cain, letting the voters see them and hear their policies. They would be taking advantage of the opportunities as they exist.
Were you watching the response to Cain? These are South Carolina republicans. They loved him. What on earth makes you think he “has no chance to be the nominee”? Please explain. Unless you believe that only the party elites have a right to choose the nominee.
There is well more than a year before the nomination. Just as has happened in the election years in the past, frontrunners will lose their place and some from the back of the pack will move to the front. To say that a conservative has no chance this early in the process is to show your lack of faith in the way the process works.
I look forward to hearing you explain the reason why you believe a little known conservative who is able to completely win over a group of voters once they hear his policies, can’t win.
Cain is probably the Duncan Hunter of this election cycle. Hunter was the most reaganeque of the 2008 candidates, and stood head over shoulders above any other candidate (including McCain's pal, "true conservative" Fred Thompson), but Hunter had absolutely no traction nationwide and was stuck in single digits throughout the primary season. I think Cain is a good honest guy and a fantastic speaker for conservative values, but I don't think he has any chance in this election cycle. If I'm proven wrong and he manages to get more than 3% of the vote in the early primaries, I'd seriously consider voting for him by the time the race gets to Illinois. Until that happens, he's off my radar screen. When your only political experience is coming in third place in a U.S. Senate primary, it's not a springboard to the White House.
I watched the first primary debate of the 2008 election presidential campaign in 45th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Chicago, with a room packed full of conservative activists, hosted by the 42nd Ward Republican Party Organization. It was a lively event, with 12 candidates doing a give-and-take and made even livelier with other conservatives around to react to the proceedings as they unfolded live.
I have to be honest, I didn't watch tonight's debate and the current crop of candidates who showed up are much less inspiring than the 2008 bunch. This campaign season is off to a very slow start compared to its counterpart in 2008. (If procrastinating 2008 Fred Thompson had been put in a time machine and arrived in the 2012 campaign, he'd have a shot, because nobody else is announcing, either).
I'm guessing Cain had conservatives going wild ala Adam Andrejewski on the stump (local Illinois reference, Andrejewski was an unknown businessman who decided to run for Governor and got a bunch of tea parties excited, but despite his supporters constantly claiming everyone was flocking to him, he finished 5th of 6 candidates in the GOP primary), Santorum did his best to sound like a "serious" conservative contender, Paul was Paul (declared everything on the planet to be "unconstiutional"), Gary Johnson was Paul-lite (he's going after the same voter base as Paul, so by staying in the race he makes Paul even weaker than '08), and Pawlenty was drab and scripted but credible.
If I was forced to pick a candidate from those five (and I would really prefer not to vote for one of the people who was on stage tonight), it would be Pawlenty, without enthusiasm. He'd get my vote by default for not being a RINO or quack and having a viable election record. But I liked the pre-2008 Pawlenty much better. (Ditto with the pre-2004 Santorum)
Odd to see a GOP Presidential debate without Romney or Huck, given that they were there on Day 1 of the 2008 campaign. I'm guessing neither will run, although skipping the first debate wouldn't hurt 'em. If Trump had shown up, he'd liven up this debate for sure, unfortunately a bunch of freepers would fall for the B.S. that came out of his mouth. Given that Trump has been yapping about running for President more than anyone else, his absence tonight tells me just how serious his "campaign" is.