Our first Presidential candidate

[RecycleMichael]

Herman Cain officially kicks off 2012 presidential race

By Holly Bailey

Just under 22 months before Election Day, we have our first semi-official entrant in the 2012 presidential race. Republican Herman Cain announced Wednesday that he's setting up an exploratory committee to raise cash for a potential bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Wait, Herman who?

A former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and executive at Pillsbury, Cain is a conservative radio host in Atlanta who has been a popular figure on the GOP speaking circuit over the last year. Cain, who is black, is perhaps best known nationally for speaking out last year against charges made by the NAACP that the tea party is made up of "racist elements."

Last month, Cain topped a 2012 presidential straw poll organized by the conservative blog Red State, beating out the likes of Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. Still, Cain, who also previously headed the National Restaurant Association, has virtually no name recognition beyond the GOP grass roots and is not even a blip in most early presidential polls — not that he views that as a problem.

In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Cain said he's been motivated all of his life by people who think he can't win.

"People who say that Herman Cain has no chance of winning the nomination for the Republican Party or win the presidency -- I simply say thank you," he said. "Because all my life I have been in situations where I wasn't supposed to become VP of Pillsbury, I wasn't supposed to be able to turn Godfather's Pizza around. I wasn't supposed to succeed in climbing the corporate ladder in corporate America. So to the people who say I don't have a chance, I say: Thank you. Because that inspires me."

An exploratory committee is generally the first step a potential candidate takes in seeking the White House. Cain is expected to announce whether he'll formally seek the nomination later this year.

[sgrizzle]

Godfather's pizza? Woo!

So far he's the candidate with my vote.

[Ed W]

...soooo if he gets Pete Coors to be his running mate, I might consider voting for him.  Pizza AND beer!

[guido911]

...soooo if he gets Pete Coors to be his running mate, I might consider voting for him.  Pizza AND beer!

Now your talking. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

I hope the Godfather's restaurants are better than the truck stop Godfather's, cause they really suck big time.

[sgrizzle]

I've heard Herman Cain on the radio before. He seems sane and rational. An exception for radio talk show hosts.

[Conan71]

Herman has real world business experience and doesn't seem caught up in a lot of the batshit rhetoric which is out there these days.  I listen in when he subs for Boortz occasionally and he seems pretty level-headed.  I'm definitely interested to learn more.  I think he could be a less polarizing figure than other candidates who are described as "front-runners" for the GOP primary.

I tune in to KRMG out of necessity in the afternoons for traffic info.  Donald Trump was on Hannity, apparently he's planning on running as a Republican.  One thing I heard him say I'm not crazy about is he thinks oil should be $40 a barrel to make America strong.  He obviously doen't have a clue about real world economy outside real estate and entertainment.  If oil were to go back below $40/bbl it would be devastating to many states, especially Oklahoma.  I don't think anyone who works outside the industry can appreciate how many jobs exist right now due to $70+/bbl.

Tim Pawlenty is supposed to decide by March/April if he will run.

Anyone think President Obama will draw serious challenges in the Democrat primaries?  I think rumors of Hillary running in '12 have all been started by the RNC propaganda machine.

[we vs us]

Herman has real world business experience and doesn't seem caught up in a lot of the batshit rhetoric which is out there these days.  I listen in when he subs for Boortz occasionally and he seems pretty level-headed.  I'm definitely interested to learn more.  I think he could be a less polarizing figure than other candidates who are described as "front-runners" for the GOP primary.

I tune in to KRMG out of necessity in the afternoons for traffic info.  Donald Trump was on Hannity, apparently he's planning on running as a Republican.  One thing I heard him say I'm not crazy about is he thinks oil should be $40 a barrel to make America strong.  He obviously doen't have a clue about real world economy outside real estate and entertainment.  If oil were to go back below $40/bbl it would be devastating to many states, especially Oklahoma.  I don't think anyone who works outside the industry can appreciate how many jobs exist right now due to $70+/bbl.

Tim Pawlenty is supposed to decide by March/April if he will run.

Anyone think President Obama will draw serious challenges in the Democrat primaries?  I think rumors of Hillary running in '12 have all been started by the RNC propaganda machine.

Re:  an Obama challenger . . . I just don't see it.  There's no one out there talking it up, there's no one floating trial balloons, there's just . . . no one.  If there were Democratic insurgents you would've seen Heath Schuler knock off Pelosi for House leadership, and you'd see credible challenges to Reid as well.  Obviously we have a couple of years to go, but generating an insurgency takes time and I don't see anyone even half-heartedly attempting it. 

The GOP field is all over the map and pretty weak, IMO.  Romney will be back in it, Palin is flirting with it, Pawlenty has to stretch pretty far right to be nominated.  I think the next two years will be difficult to be a GOP candidate, because the tenor of the House leadership is still up in the air.  Boehner obviously is under competing pressures:  get stuff done but throw some red meat to the new Tea Party constituency, and they will be banging loudly to be much more obstructionist than Boehner will want to be.  The productivity of the lame duck was pivotal, because it showed (pretty publicly) that Washington can get things done when it wants, so with that example out there now, Boehner will have to produce actual legislation, not just symbolic votes. 

The GOP pres candidate, whoever it is, will have to look at Boehner's successes and failures and somehow divine the middle path forward.  See how the Tea Party caucus wields their power (or doesn't) and see to what degree they are controlling the GOP as a whole . . . a level that no one really knows at this point. 

Anyway, unless something changes, I really think Obama will get re-elected.  Much more narrowly than in 2008, IMO, but he will get re-elected.

[guido911]

Re:  an Obama challenger . . . I just don't see it.  There's no one out there talking it up, there's no one floating trial balloons, there's just . . . no one.  If there were Democratic insurgents you would've seen Heath Schuler knock off Pelosi for House leadership, and you'd see credible challenges to Reid as well.  Obviously we have a couple of years to go, but generating an insurgency takes time and I don't see anyone even half-heartedly attempting it. 

The GOP field is all over the map and pretty weak, IMO.  Romney will be back in it, Palin is flirting with it, Pawlenty has to stretch pretty far right to be nominated.  I think the next two years will be difficult to be a GOP candidate, because the tenor of the House leadership is still up in the air.  Boehner obviously is under competing pressures:  get stuff done but throw some red meat to the new Tea Party constituency, and they will be banging loudly to be much more obstructionist than Boehner will want to be.  The productivity of the lame duck was pivotal, because it showed (pretty publicly) that Washington can get things done when it wants, so with that example out there now, Boehner will have to produce actual legislation, not just symbolic votes. 

The GOP pres candidate, whoever it is, will have to look at Boehner's successes and failures and somehow divine the middle path forward.  See how the Tea Party caucus wields their power (or doesn't) and see to what degree they are controlling the GOP as a whole . . . a level that no one really knows at this point. 

Anyway, unless something changes, I really think Obama will get re-elected.  Much more narrowly than in 2008, IMO, but he will get re-elected.

Inciting violence. Inciting violence.

[Townsend]

Inciting violence. Inciting violence.

Look out, he's trying to start something.

[guido911]

Look out, he's trying to start something.

[Gaspar]

Herman back in the day.