Two down, and this one going way up – Herman Cain. Sure, it seems that much of the media has done a ‘clamp down’ on his performance, but it is Clear and True that in every single event at which multiples of these folks speak, he is getting the most applause, the most clapping, and the most response of any of the candidates (and yes, I have not seen him speak, in person, at the same time as Ron Paul – his supporters are just plain intense).
Hot Air has started to run this poll, and will continue to do so in the future. Now, to be sure, the folks that frequent the site tend to be more tuned into politics than the average person – political and news junkies. But it is starting to show up that Cain is turning heads and capturing minds.
Sure, the knock on him is that he isn’t coming out of the "politician grooming school" or "hasn’t done his time in grade". But he shares one thing with The Newly Departed (The Donald) and that is his penchant to speak plain. I think that is a feature, not a bug – people ARE tired of the run of the mill politicalese.
Will it continue? Who knows – it is still a ways out but with no clear leader as yet, he may have as good a shot as, well, an Obama back in 2008. His main problem is that he is going to share the sub-niche of TEA Party guy with the TEA Party gal – Michele Bachmann. I think that they are both going after the same demo and will come down to style (The Preacher vs The Machinegun); one is using that preacher’s cadence and the other the tax lawyer’s steel trap mind filled with budget and policy details.
Thus far, as we saw with the Frank Luntz focus group, when you hear him, you are thinking about him as a contender. True down in South Carolina, and it is true here in New Hampshire – Every. Single. Time.
Note: the highest rated pol was Sarah Palin – Gee, wasn’t she supposed to be the unloved, unwanted, washed up, has been of politics? Like all the "smart" pundits and operatives were claiming after the 2008 election?
I’m betting that all the rest of those in this poll are having a Whisky Tango Foxtrot moment…
(H/T: Hot Air)
