Category: Politics

‘Mysterious’ Attack on Herman Cain?

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Yeah, it’s really mysterious, IYKWIMAITYD:

Herman Cain was the target of a mysterious attack Saturday night when leaflets targeting the Republican presidential frontrunner were left on car windows outside the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s fall banquet in Des Moines.
The leaflets, one of which was left on the car of a reporter, accuse Cain of being “pro-choice” and question his opposition to abortion.
“Herman Cain threw the babies under the bus,” blares the flier, which features a headshot of Cain next to a picture of a tiny aborted fetus. . . .
Two groups named at the bottom of the flier take credit for the attack: “Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency” and “Iowans For Truth and Honest Government.”
A message to an email address listed for Iowans for Truth and Honest Government was not returned, but both groups have surfaced in recent election cycles to wage shadowy smear campaigns.
Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency targeted former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with leaflets during his 2008 presidential bid, questioning his Christian faith and calling attention to his effort to help parole a convicted murderer who went on to commit another homicide.
Similar leaflets attacking Huckabee appeared in the primary state of South Carolina at the time.
Iowans For Truth and Honest Government took credit for fliers attacking Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in 2009 during the early days of his Republican primary fight against conservative Bob Vander Plaats.

Knowing nothing at all about these two “groups” — which do not exist as such, but are merely names at the bottom of flyers — I did a quick Google search and found that, when “Iowans for Truth and Honest Government” attacked Brandstad in 2009, suspicion fell on the Iowa-based consulting group Victory Enterprises.

That doesn’t prove anything, of course, since anyone could use the name of a non-existent group — pseudonyms can’t file lawsuits — and nobody ever figured out with any certainty who was behind the anti-Brandstad fliers.

There is no shortage of suspects. Every other campaign has a motive to attack Herman Cain, since he has surged to the lead in the past month. But every time I see this kind of stuff happening from now on, I’ll be reminding you: The prime directive of the Rick Perry campaign is “Destroy Herman Cain.”

UPDATE: Now a Memeorandum thread.


The Cain Campaign in Iowa

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Last week, an ABC News crew got video of Herman Cain’s Iowa campaign office in Urbandale seemingly empty. Duane Lester of All-American Blogger interviewed Lisa Lockwood, communication director of Cain’s Iowa campaign, at this weekend’s Iowa Faith & Freedom Forum:

Duane vows to visit the Urbandale office of the Cain campaign next week. Meanwhile, as to the whole controversy over Cain’s views on abortion — which began with his Wednesday interview with Piers Morgan on CNN — Herman Cain emphasized his pro-life position in Iowa this weekend:

Businessman Herman Cain in particular sought to assure the audience of his commitment to pro-life causes.
“From conception, no abortions, no exceptions,” said Cain, who has been dogged all week by a controversy over a statement he made during a CNN interview that suggested abortion was a personal decision that shouldn’t be regulated by the government.
Though Cain was the first speaker of the evening, the issue came up again. Texas Gov. Rick Perry questioned the retired pizza magnate’s anti-abortion credentials. It is “a liberal canard to say I am personally pro-life but government should stay out of the decision,” Perry said during his speech. “If that is your view you are not pro-life. You are having your cake and eating it too.”
After Perry’s remarks, Cain again defended himself, telling reporters that, as president, he would sign a federal ban on abortion if such a bill crossed his desk. “I am pro-life. I have said it, I don’t know how many times,” Cain said.

A friend e-mailed to remind me that in 2006, Cain led a $1 million effort to encourage black voters to vote pro-life. Cain history of support for the pro-life cause ought to suffice as defense against Perry’s accusations. And we have another poll today, from the University of Iowa, showing Cain with a huge lead in the Hawkeye State and Perry a distant fifth:

Herman Cain ……………… 37.0%
Mitt Romney ……………… 27.0%
Ron Paul …………………… 11.5%
Newt Gingrich ……………… 7.7%
Rick Perry ………………….. 5.9%
Michele Bachmann ………… 3.7%
Rick Santorum ……………… 3.1%
Jon Huntsman …………….. 1.2%

When you look at the RCP average, you see that every Iowa poll for the past two weeks (beginning with the Oct. 7-10 PPP poll) has shown Cain in first place and Perry in single digits. It is therefore scarcely surprising — as I explained Friday — that the prime directive of the Perry campaign is now “Destroy Herman Cain.”

Persistent concerns about Cain’s “ground game” in Iowa cannot be ignored, given that we are now 72 days from the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Organizing a campaign at the precinct level takes time, and the time is growing short. As I have said more than once, both here and in conversations with Cain staff, if I were in Mark Block’s position what I would do is to bring back Dan Tripp (who left the campaign earlier this year) and tell him to do two things: Kick ass and take names.

I’ve known Dan since the NY-23 campaign for Doug Hoffman, and his effectiveness as an ass-kicker is simply a neutral objective fact.

UPDATE: Linked by Nice Deb and The Lonely Conservative — thanks! — and I expand the argument at the Hot Air Green Room:

Can the Perry campaign afford for their candidate to finish fourth, fifth or sixth in Iowa? No way, José. They don’t necessarily have to win it, but if Perry finishes as far back as fourth in Iowa on Jan. 3, it’s unlikely he will do much better in New Hampshire on Jan. 10. By the time the South Carolina primary rolls around on Jan. 21, the media will have been doing “death watch” reports on Perry campaign for more than two weeks. If Perry then underperforms in “must-win” South Carolina, there will be another ten days of “death watch” coverage before the crucial Florida primary on Jan. 31. Romney is reputedly strong in Nevada, so by the time Feb. 4 rolls around, Perry could be batting .200 in the first five nominating events, and perhaps even 0-for-5 if he were somehow to lose his “must-win” state.

Read the whole thing.


Money Problems for Rick Perry? Also: Thoughts on the Logic of Strategy

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Call this the “former front-runner” problem:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his presidential campaign with an aggressive fundraising schedule that quickly made him a front-runner for the Republican nomination. But reports his campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission show that his ability to attract big money fell off steeply in September — perhaps not coincidentally — at the same time a series of rocky debate performances threatened his early front-runner status.
As Perry arrives on Friday in Washington for a private meeting with K Street insiders, the question is whether he can convince the smart money that his campaign is worth an investment. After three torrid weeks in August when he raised more than twice as much as his nearest fundraising rival, Perry has now fallen back into a much more competitive fundraising race with Mitt Romney. That is not good news for a candidate who, because of his late entry into the race, has a lot of catching up to do. Romney has raised $32 million since the beginning of this campaign cycle.

If you think back to when the Perry bandwagon got rolling (less than 10 weeks ago, although it seems like ancient history now), the perception of inevitability was central to the argument: The Smilin’ Texan was it — The Man, the Real Deal — and everybody else was supposed to gaze in awe while Perry proceeded to dismantle Romney. Continue reading Money Problems for Rick Perry? Also: Thoughts on the Logic of Strategy →

Bachmann Pulls the Plug in N.H.?

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John Pindell of WMUR-TV got the scoop:

All paid New Hampshire staff for Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign have quit over deep frustration with the campaign’s lack of commitment to New Hampshire. …

Because the rest of Pindell’s story is behind a paywall — charging 99 cents to read it online? really? why does that make sense for a TV station’s Web site? — we instead must rely on Politico:

They were going to [resign] even earlier, he reports, but didn’t because it would have harmed the candidate.
It certainly isn’t going to help her now – but they may have felt the hour was growing too late for things to change for her.

And Reuters has this:

“It certainly underscores the impression that New Hampshire isn’t a priority for her. She’s totally written us off,” said former Republican state legislator Fran Wendelboe. . . .
Bachmann has been on a slow fade since winning the Iowa straw poll of Republican voters in August. Bachmann has only been registering single digits in polls of New Hampshire Republican voters. In Iowa, she has been in fourth place in the polls behind Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

Thanks to frequent commenter Joe for the tip. I called Bachmann’s spokeswoman Alice Stewart to get her reaction and haven’t yet heard back from her.

Cain’s Gaffes Haven’t Hurt Him … Yet

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LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Just talked to Da Tech Guy who asked me, “What’s up with Herman Cain and this abortion thing?” This was of course in reference to the Piers Morgan interview which prompted Jonathan Bernstein of the Washington Post to write:

Last night, Herman Cain made a big splash when he backed into pro-choice language on abortion last night on CNN — apparently by accident — when he said he is personally fully against abortion but doesn’t think that the government should tell women what to do. This is already shaping up as a very big deal. Cain is leading in some polls, so other Republicans may use this slip up to try to take him down, and he’ll have to address it.
In other words, this could mean the end of Cain’s 15 minutes.

Which is, of course, ridiculous. Cain isn’t one of these “famous for being famous” celebrities, but has been campaigning for president for nearly a year now. So to speak of him in terms of Andy Warhol’s 15-minutes-of-fame quip is absurd. Furthermore, Cain has repeatedly stated his pro-life position — the crowd at the Values Voter Summit two weeks ago cheered his “no exceptions” stance — and while he let Morgan twist him into a pretzel during the CNN interview, Herman Cain’s campaign isn’t about abortion. He has sought to focus his campaign relentlessly on issues of economic growth.

Last night the Western Republican Leadership Conference held a reception at Caesar’s Palace, and I attended with Steve Foley of Citizens for Cain. We found ourselves talking to David Patten of NewsMax, who is working on a feature article about Herman Cain, and GOProud chairman Chris Barron, who has been on the Cain train since the days of “Herman Who?” Chris made the point that the reason people who like Herman Cain — and there are obviously many millions of them — is because he’s not a typical politician. So whether or not he’s an expert at giving media interviews, they still like him.

Chris Barron talks to David Patten at Wednesday’s reception

All of Cain’s errors to date have failed to halt his momentum, but now that he has emerged as a serious contender, he’s under more intense media scrutiny and will have to learn to cope with these pressures.

Jimmie Bise writes an open letter to Herman Cain today telling him that he’s “on the verge of a crash and burn,” which is somewhat overstating the problems he has had this week. Nevertheless, it is true that in interviews with both Wolf Blitzer and Piers Morgan, Cain managed to get himself pulled off-message, and we’ll watch to see whether he can prevent future such errors.

By the way, guess who I just interviewed? Erik Telford, who ended my now-legendary two-year-long “Blame Eric Telford” campaign by inviting me to speak at American for Prosperity’s Right Online Conference in June. Telford recently joined the Franklin Center for Government and Public Policy.

Telford is a Cain fan and so I interviewed him for an American Spectator column. Deadline for the Final Wisdom looms ahead. Please hit the freaking tip jar!





Rasmussen Poll: Herman Cain Leads in Iowa, as Rick Perry Slips to Sixth Place

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LAS VEGAS, Nevada
The latest numbers from Iowa are great for Cain, grim for Perry:

Herman Cain ……….. 28%
Mitt Romney ……….. 21%
Ron Paul …………….. 10%
Newt Gingrich ……….. 9%
Michele Bachmann …. 8%
Rick Perry ……………. 7%
Rick Santorum ………. 4%
Jon Huntsman ……….. 2%

Rasmussen says: “The sixth place finish for Perry is a sharp decline from early September when Perry was the frontrunner both nationally and in Iowa.” And the survey was taken yesterday (Oct. 19) after the debate here at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, so it does not appear that Perry helped himself appreciably.

Ed Morrissey notes that “Cain didn’t have a great debate on Tuesday, but didn’t get rattled, either.” Which is to say that, merely by surviving the tough attacks, Cain won.

In Praise Of Jennifer Rubin

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by Smitty

You have to admire the courage of somebody who can assert

Herman Cain is having a tough time. He had a rocky debate. His campaign centerpiece, the 9-9-9 tax plan, is being skewered.

He had a rocky debate? Are you sure he didn’t debate Bullwinkle?Or, perhaps somebody about town with Ms. Rubin?What, precisely, was rocky? Any details? And who is skewering his 9-9-9 plan? Adolf Hitler? Adolf, it must be pointed out, was more worried about his girlfriend getting into the details of the 9-9-9 plan than he was worried about the plan itself.

So, one is left to wonder, Jennifer, what specific objections YOU have to the 9-9-9 plan:

9-9-9 Plan: Summary

  • Removes all payroll taxes and unites all tax payers
  • Provides the least incentive to evade taxes and the fewest opportunities to do so
  • Lifts a $430 billion dead-weight burden on the economy due to compliance, enforcement, collection, etc…
  • Is fair, simple, efficient, neutral, and transparent
  • Ends nearly all deductions and special interest favors
  • Features zero tax on capital gains and repatriated profits
  • Exports leave our shores without the Business Tax or the Sales Tax embedded in their cost, making them world class competitive. Imports are subject to the same taxation as domestically produced goods, leveling the playing field.
  • Lowest marginal rates on production
  • Kills the Death Tax
  • Allows immediate expensing of business investments
  • Eliminates double taxation of dividends
  • Increases capital formation which aids capital availability for small businesses
  • Increased capital per worker drives productivity and wage growth
  • Features a platform to launch properly structured Empowerment Zones to renew our inner cities
  • The pro-growth, pro-job, pro-export economic policies of the 9-9-9 PLAN equals a strong dollar policy

I’ll be honest: I haven’t worked all the math. I’m also in some agreement with Michele Bachmann: giving a new tax to DC is a joyless precedent. Herman himself may veto any mad Congress that wants to drop a 1 in front of the third 9 in the plan, but there are no guarantees for follow-on presidents.

Also, as a military chain-of-command aficionado, my preference is to empower the states more, and DC less, to rebuild the crumbled local-state-federal chain.

But let’s give the idea a little more credit than simply saying it’s being ‘skewered’. The plan as such hasn’t seen more than a minor paper cuts from a poor wee Washington Post-It. But such a brave Post-It.

Herman Cain’s Day in Vegas

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LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Herman Cain spoke this afternoon at the Western Republican Leadership Conference here:

Earlier today, I went with Steve Foley of Citizens for Cain to a luncheon at Maggiano’s Little Italy hosted by the Republican Women of Las Vegas:

After Cain’s luncheon speech, he posed for photos with well-wishers while surrounded by the mob of photographers and TV cameras that follows him pretty much everywhere nowadays: