Herman Cain Hits 3rd in Polls and Some Speedbumps

     Perhaps

the least known candidate in the GOP field going in, former Godfather's Pizza CEO, Herman Cain entered with the intention of transforming his business savvy into political capital in the 2012 run for the Republican nomination. He had a respectable showing at the New Hampshire GOP presidential debate and his rhetoric as of the last few weeks has been heating up on everything from President Obama to the Economy to the pro-life debate. He's been successful in pandering to a large number of Tea Party voters and other social conservatives, edging out all but Michelle Bachmann for "Tea party Darling". However, in the last week he has seen a number of top staffers in two early polling states resign, and the specter of a "Newt Gingrich situatiom" is looming.

     Last week a Des Moines Register poll placed Herman Cain 3rd among GOP favorites at 10%, ahead of more well-known hopefuls like Pawlenty and Gingrich. Shortly after, however, top staffers in early polling states Iowa and New Hampshire quit. Iowa organizational director Tina Goff, and New Hampshire director Matt Murphy quit, citing Cain's refusal to invest more money and time in their respective states, according to POLITICO. In addition, regional director Jim Zeiler and Iowa straw poll director Kevin Hall headed for the door.  Goff explained to CNN that his primary disagreement was that Cain, "wasn't willing to make the commitment in Iowa necessary to win the straw poll." Though it's fairly early in the game for staffers to be cutting and running, it does point to some serious diagreements within the Cain camp as to strategy and focus.

     As was reported on 2012 Voters, this was exactly the kind of dissent that lead to the mass exodus of Gingrich staffers a month ago; complaints that he was not focused in the areas they wanted and that they disagreed with his strategy. Iowa seems to be a hard nut to crack for many of the GOP hopefuls. Romney did not get the Iowa caucus results he wanted in 2008, primarily because the Iowan GOP voters are primarily evangelical and disapprove of his Mormon background. As a result Romney will largely skip the early voting state this time around, and huntsman is likely to not devote too much attention either. Gingrich attempted to court the Iowa Republicans, despite his several personal indiscretions and several key staffers there quitting. Michelle Bachmann announced her campaign (despite having been campaigning for several months) last week in Waterloo, Iowa to dubious success.

     This is not Cain's first setback in Iowa either, as several weeks ago Cain's staff and volunteers passed allegations of infidelity, homosexuality, and professional misconduct internally. Ellen Carmichael, a Cain campaign spokesperson reported that, "We look forward to staffing up, and not just here. We're in a great financial position to expand." Of the resignations she said that they are already looking for replacements, and flippantly dismissed the notion that the campaign was in trouble. This isn't a "New Gingrich situation", Carmichael says.

     Volunteers for Cain's campaign in Iowa feel that his momentum will be largely unaffected by this recent bout of resignations. However, several are more realistic. According to interviews by POLITICO, some are wondering about his ability to talk coherently on the real issues. One volunteer said, Herman's got the tea party jargon down. He knows how to talk tea party and get [them[ excited. But ask him a question on a specific issue and he does not do well." This is a pretty common sentiment among tea party politicians as a whole, and was particularly evident during the South Carolina debate when he bungled an answer on a question about Afghanistan. In addition, he spoke well-enough on economic and social issues at the New Hampshire debate, but fumbled through thoughts on foreign policy and education. He even refused to comment on the War on Terror until he got into the White House.

     It remains to be seen whether Cain will be able to pull his campaign together enough to continue rising in the polls, or whether he will peter out, becoming a Tea Party panderer that will not surpass a 10% approval mark.