The Other McCain

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Herman Cain Campaign Gets Boost as Haley Barbour Quits GOP 2012 Field

Posted on | April 25, 2011 | 16 Comments

Of course, that’s not the angle the biased liberal media is reporting, but what do you expect from CNN?

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Monday he will not run for president in 2012.
“I will not be a candidate for president next year,” Barbour, a Republican, said in a statement. “This has been a difficult, personal decision, and I am very grateful to my family for their total support of my going forward, had that been what I decided.”
Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, said he would continue serving as governor of Mississippi and work to “elect a new Republican president in 2012.”
Although he is popular among Washington insiders, he has had trouble gaining traction in recent national polls.

(Via Riehl World View and Cubachi.) So we see that popularity with insiders doesn’t count for much, nor did Barbour’s reputation as a brilliant policy guy or a top fundraiser. Barbour’s dropout means that there are now just two Southerners remaining in the 2012 Republican presidential field: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Georgia businessman Herman Cain.

The constant refrain of those who have resisted Cain’s gathering grassroots momentum is, “Oh, I like Herman, but he can’t really win.” People who say that are paying attention to the wrong things.

Cain has already visited Iowa 15 times in the past year, usually meeting with small groups of conservative activists. (He spoke to 120 members of the Clinton County GOP last Tuesday.) He’s also visiting New Hampshire, South Carolina and other key states. And if you know Herman Cain, you know that people who meet him always like him.

 We’re still more than eight months away from the Iowa caucuses. Cain is slowly and steadily accumulating grassroots supporters there and in other early-primary states, and every time one of the other 2012 GOP hopefuls drops out, the answer to the “Herman can’t win” crowd becomes a little more persuasive: Yeah, but he’s still running, isn’t he?

Expectations are so low for Cain — he has so little national name-recognition, and is being written off by all the “smart” pundits like Charles Krauthammer — that if he can just go the distance and do well in Iowa, he’ll become the Cinderella story of the campaign. But the “smart” pundits will keep on saying he can’t win, right up until the moment when they start saying he can’t be beat.

So isn’t it time you joined the online grassroots army at Citizens for Cain?

UPDATE: Allahpundit omits mention of Herman Cain among the “southern candidates” for 2012, although in doing so he reminds me: Oh, yeah, Newt Gingrich. Forgot about Newt. But he was actually born in Pennsylvania.

UPDATE II: I should remind you that Andrew Breitbart is also a Herman Cain supporter, and said as much in a speech at the Heritage Foundation last week.

UPDATE III: Politico has a nice article examining Barbour’s reasons for not running and notes that he had everything lined up to launch his campaign next Monday, but apparently just didn’t feel that “fire in the belly.”


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Category: Election 2012, Haley Barbour, Herman Cain

Comments

  • Anonymous

    SWEET! I’m already in his army! Mike Suckabee only appeals to those who want to see Obama get re-elected.
    If I can’t have Allen West as my candidate (and he says I can’t), then it’s Herman Cain all the way! ESPECIALLY after his honest answer as to why there will be no stealth jihadi infiltrators in HIS cabinet!

  • Joe

    You know what would be even better, Haley Barbour endorsing Herman Cain.

    Charles Johnson and the SPLC would be soooooo mad.

  • http://kingshamus.wordpress.com/ KingShamus

    Side benefit from a Hermain Cain presidential run? It would make Andi Sullypants’ head explode.

    That’s always fun to watch.

  • http://twitter.com/lonelycon lonely conservative

    Nobody thought Reagan could win either, and we all know how that turned out! The media is ignoring Cain because he’d make a strong candidate. He’s likable and accomplished-a nightmare for Obama.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6OOPHMPLPN4PBGSMYIAETYM72Y Doug

    Herman Cain is in Greensburg PA on Sat 4/30 @ 1pm at airport RSM

  • http://kingshamus.wordpress.com/ KingShamus

    In the 2012 election cycle, Herman Cain will have a resume of accomplishments. In 2008, Obama had…vaguely warm sentiments? A pretty face? A good teleprompter? Affirmative Action?

  • Bert Spence

    Three words (two words and a date): Rick Perry 2012. Mr. Cain would make an excellent VP.

    Governor Perry is about 10 times the candidate of anyone else in the GOP field. He is putting tea party ideals into actual practice, and has given the “compassionate conservatives” the butt-whipping they deserved, essentially driving Kay Bailey Hutchinson out of office.

    Draft Perry, push Cain for VP. That ticket would be unstoppable.

  • Pingback: Barbour out, now we need more Cain! « The Daley Gator

  • Anonymous

    My Texas friends do not unanimously hold Gov. Perry in high regard. I don’t dislike Perry, but the doubts expressed by some of my friends are sort of an asterisk beside his name.

    My basic idea for 2012 is to drive a stake through the heart of Bushism, to end the whole pre-emptive compromise approach to liberalism, where we begin the negotiation process by offering the Democrats half a loaf and count ourselves “winners” if we still have a single slice of bread when it’s over.

  • Anonymous

    “My basic idea for 2012 is to drive a stake through the heart of Bushism,”

    Capital idea.

  • http://kingshamus.wordpress.com/ KingShamus

    “My basic idea for 2012 is to drive a stake through the heart of Bushism…”

    Winning…duh.

    Old skool Charlie Sheen reference-DRINK.

  • Pingback: Haley Barbour Ends Presidential Run | REPUBLICAN REDEFINED

  • http://twitter.com/RedDogReport Brian O’Connor

    It seems that racism may have been a big factor in Barbour’s decision.

    And while Cain remains the only southerner in the race, Gingrich seems to benefit most from Barbour’s absence (unless Daniels jumps in). Although Barbour is a Southern Governor, his backers were mainly Washington insider types (lobbyists, GOP/RNC big wigs), who are more likely to gravitate to the devil they already know.

  • Bert Spence

    Read yesterday’s NR story on Perry and tell me that he hasn’t “driven a stake through Bushism.” The Bushes apparently hate his guts, for reasons I cannot but admire (in Perry, not the Bushes).

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