Herman Cain gets serious about Florida and yellow flowers
10/25/2011
This morning, Crowley Political Report spent more than 30 minutes talking about Herman Cain with a Washington reporter from Reuters.
Cain has become a popular interview subject ever since his stunning victory in the Florida Republican Party's straw poll. Since then, Cain has led in some polls including last week's NBC/Marist poll. Cain's closest competitor has been Mitt Romney.
Can Cain win Florida?
Yes.
But it is not going to be easy.
One thing Cain can count on is the fact that a significant number of voters in the Jan. 31 primary will be hard-core, Tea Party folks. And if the overall turnout is low, as expected, those Tea Party voters could help Cain carry the day.
Cain's biggest problem may well be a lack of cash. He needs to raise a bundle of dough. First, he's going to have to do well in Iowa and New Hampshire. But before they cast the first vote, Cain is going to need to spend some money in Florida.
How much?
A week of serious TV ads in Florida will cost $1.5 million. Maybe a tad more. Four weeks of television will cost $6 million. That does not include radio, direct mail, staff, and all of those other little things that make a successful campaign.
Money will not be a problem for Romney. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is also expected to be flush with cash if not great ideas.
So far, Cain has done pretty damn well without a lot of cash.
He can thank the debates. The canidates have benefited from unusally high viewership for the eight televised debates. And Cain has more than held his own. Even attacks on his odd 9-9-9 plan have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Cain could implode long before the Florida primary but for now, he's a serious contender who indicated today that he understands just how important the Sunshine State is going to be to his future.
Cain has added Florida political consultants Adam Goodman, Arlene DiBenigno and Kathleen Shanahan to his team.
It's a start.
Now, one of Cain's very, very differenct campaign ads. It takes quite some time to realize this is about Herman Cain. It's a must-view:
(Also see the Reuters story here) http://reut.rs/tV8Tgb
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As a conservative this is the last straw for me! The Cain craze has got to stop. I admit that I kinda liked him at first, until I realized how uninformed, unpolished and unintelligible he was. Cain would get obliterated in the general by the Obama machine, probably even a worst beating then McCain got last time! This election should be a cake walk, but if we put a guy up there who can't even pronounce 'Uzbekistan', we might as well be waiving the white flag right now. Please wake up America! Obama, Cain, McCain, all were terrible choices! I'm back on the Romney bandwagon; he would at least be qualified for the job, unlike Obama or Cain.
Posted by: Joe Blow | 10/26/2011 at 04:58 PM
Help me here Jim...stupid post? stupid me? stupid video? or all of the above?
Posted by: Brian E. Crowley | 10/25/2011 at 04:52 PM
I have never seen anything so stupid.
Posted by: Jim | 10/25/2011 at 04:41 PM