Despite Allegations, Cain Leads GOP Field in National Poll

[Cali_Democrat]

Despite Allegations, Cain Leads GOP Field in National Poll
By Caitlin Huey-Burns - November 3, 2011

Herman Cain continues to lead the Republican presidential primary field, despite allegations that he harassed two women while he led the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s.

A Rasmussen Reports poll taken three days after Politico reported the past allegations shows Cain leading the Republican presidential field with 26 percent of the support from likely GOP primary voters. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is close behind with 23 percent. Cain leads among the most conservative voters with 38 percent. Last month, Rasmussen found Cain and Romney tied at 29 percent.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/11/03/despite_allegations_cain_leads_gop_field_in_national_poll.html

[ProSense]

1. Give it time, but

it just goes to show that the other candidates are truly weak (or that the RW is truly desperate). The news is still coming in drips.

On edit: Cain just picked up an endorsement from the queen of lunatic anti-Muslim/birthers.

[JaneQPublic]

3. Herman's scandal will win him GOP votes, not lose it.

To conservatives, policies against sexual harrassment in the workplace are just more examples of The Nanny State. Few of this ilk ever believe that a man is guilty of harassment, regardless of the circumstances. Denying the charges will make Herman a hero in their eyes.

[TheWraith]

4. For now, yes. But that could change in a heartbeat.

If proof comes out about Cain's behavior, doubly do if the women involved were white, watch his support melt away.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I Would Be Surprised If His Victims Were White

.

[JaneQPublic]

7. True if they are white women...

...a revelation such as that would cause his teabagger supporters to show their true colors.

Otherwise, I just think about how Bill O'Reilly's sexual harrassment issue -- or I should say non-issue -- lost him no popularity with his conservative followers.

[ProSense]

11. That may be true of the majority of the GOP,

but that isn't true of other groups. Before long, Republicans will be trying to find a candidate who can actually win (as they've been doing for the last several months). Reminds me of 2008 when they jumped on McCain's bandwagon because the other candidates were so pathetic.

[customerserviceguy]

17. I happened to listen to Rush Limpballs the other day

He's selling the tea partiers (and others) on the idea that sexual harassment suits are just money-making opportunities for whiny women and their thieving lawyers. Apparently, it's working.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I Love It . The Tea Nuts Just Might Lead The Republicans Off The Proverbial Cliff

.

[customerserviceguy]

16. If Romney's the nominee

It will be the fundies who take them over that cliff.

[frazzled]

6. The narrative, from the media, won't necessarily be about his alleged transgressions

It will be (it already is) about how he has no organization to handle this; about how this wouldn't happen in a real campaign. They really don't care about the charges: what they care about are the operational aspects. This will mutate into a discussion of his being unable to transform his personal "likability" (go figure) into actual votes or primary wins.

And actually, they're right about that. These national polls mean nothing. If you don't have the organization in these early primary states, you're not going to be able to win them, and ultimately, you're not going to get the nomination. Unless some sugar-daddy comes in and drops a bunch of professionals into his campaign and sets up offices in four or five states, it doesn't really matter whether Herman Cain made a dirty gesture or not.

[AlinPA]

9. I thought the Kochs were behind him. If so, he won't need an organization, just big money for

TV, radio and mailers.

[frazzled]

10. Wrong

If you've ever worked on a national campaign in a big primary state, you'll know that organization on the ground is what it is all about. Yes, you need the ads and radio for name recognition. But you need big-time on-the-doorstep, on-the-phones contact with voters organized from offices around the state; and you need a crack staff who has been able to translate all the gathered data and code it all into programs; you need the press liaisons and the people who secure the spaces for the town halls and rallies, and people to get the guest speakers there, and people to man the events ... it's endless and it's complicated.

The Kochs can give him money to buy this staff. But he doesn't seem to have done so at all. That is a disaster when the first primary/caucuses are mere months away. Believe me, Mr. Romney has had people in place for a year.

[AlinPA]

12. IMO, the campaign for voters boils down to attack ads in the last week. TV, mostly.

[frazzled]

14. Well, I was right: you've never worked on a campaign

I have.

Maybe it's because all you see from the armchair is the ad. But believe me, it can't be done without organization, no matter how many clever last-minute attack ads.

[AlinPA]

15. That's right, I have never worked on a campaign.

[CakeGrrl]

8. I like it. -nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. Cain has raised more than $1 million in the last 48 hrs.

accoprding to MSNBC in response to the scandal, double the rate of his previous fundraising. Republicans live in backwards land, where the worse a person's behavior, the more they are cheered. If Cain had murdered the sexual harrassment accusers, he'd be a hero. Cain should contact the Perry campaign to volunteer to pull the switch at the next execution in Texas. The GOPPERS will go wild.

[applegrove]

18. It is the whole Ayn Rand rape thing. They love that he has been an asshole

to women. That he tries to take what he wants. That is what they want in Washington.