Raising Cain: Herman Hunting for Michele and Sarah's Supporters?

Pizza baron Herman Cain is not sitting back and letting his surge in the polls (Stats guru Nate Silver has Cain atop the polls tonight) flounder, especially amid the infatuation with Gov. Rick Perry's $17 million fund-raising bonanza.

With Michele Bachman's backers fleeing and now Sarah Palin's supporters up for grabs, Cain is taking aim at the unemployed, a favorite punching bag for conservatives, along with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, who have drawn the ire of some of the GOP presidential slate.

Cain even threw on a little extra cheese with some conspiracy theory during his interview yesterday with The Wall Street Journal.

"I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!" Cain said.

"It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed," he added.

With then field set, Cain has grabbed the flavor of the month banner from Perry, but until he starts getting attacked by his GOP bretheren the former boss of Godfather's Pizza might not fold anytime soon.

Sarah Palin Joins Chris Christie on the Sidelines

Sarah, Inc. is staying open for business.

A day after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said for the last time he is not running for President, Sarah Palin finally ended her would-be candidate charade as well, saying after self-reflection she will not seek the Republican nomination.

"This has been prayerfully considered," the Fox News commentator said today on a popular right radio-wing radio program.

Duh.

Like Christie, Palin used her pretend run for President to help raise money. Through June, Palin's PAC had raised $1.65 million from 24,000 individuals, the Center for Responsive Politics reported.

Why would Palin leave her cash-happy life as Queen of the Tea Party for a low-paying job like President of the United States?

Steadily falling in the polls, it became clear Palin would not run for President when she abruptly quit her job as governor of Alaska in 2009. Being a quitter was considered not to be a good sign of leadership.

More recently, she showed her hand when as she threatened to sue author Joe McGinniss over his best-selling book, "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin." Serious Presidential candidates do not sue authors, they push back.

Palin ended her Barnumesque ruse today when she told conservative radio host Mark Levin
that she will not be seeking the Republican nomination for President. Levin read a statement from Palin on the air.

"I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office -- from the nation's governors to congressional seats and the presidency," Palin wrote.

"I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for president where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables," she said. 

"We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen and allow the private sector to create jobs," Palin added.

The move sets the table for center-right candidate and frontrunner Mitt Romney to have a clear path to the GOP nomination, barring a Lazarus-like resurrection from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose support for illegal immigrants and mush-mouth debate performances have him in a death spiral in the polls.

It is probably not good news for the Obama campaign, which would have loved to play against one of the Tea Party darlings in the White House sweepstakes next year. Romney is a different cup of tea, topping President Obama in the current head-to-head polls.

Limbaugh Slams GOP Establishment for Backing Christie & Not A Conservative

Right-wing talk radio king Rush Limbaugh blasted the Republican establishment today for pushing center-right GOP Gov. Chris Christie to run for President instead of a Tea Party-style conservative, like Sen. Marco Rubio.   

"I don't want to just get rid of (President) Obama, I want to take advantage of the opportunity we have to finally get a genuine, full-fledged, unapologetic conservative because this is going to be a major task. It's going to take more than one election, and it's going to take somebody fearless. And we're not going to roll this stuff back having compromise and bipartisanship as our primary objectives," he added on radio program.

"I think as far as the establishment's concerned, there are two things. They don't want a conservative to win for that reason, plus they do want to win. And I think they probably think Christie has a better chance than anybody else up there of beating Obama. That's my guess," Limbaugh adder for his massive listening audience.

Many GOP high-rollers have not embraced Mitt Romney and are wincing at the melting flavor-of-the-month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, keeping their hefty checkbooks on the sideline as they wait for their Republican messiah. They have made a big push to get Christie to reconsider a run, but the New Jersey governor still says it is not going to happen.

Limbaugh held up Rubio (R-Fla.) as a viable alternative to Christie, but charged that the predominantly New York City-based Republican bankrollers have not learned their lesson from Rubio's 2010 victory over former GOP Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

"Rubio was the conservative candidate, the candidate supported by conservative talk radio. Rubio was the outsider. But look what's happened. Now that Rubio has won, oh, yeah, everybody was involved in the campaign! Everybody had a role in electing Rubio!" Limbaugh said.

"Rubio would win in a walkover. He's conservative. He's articulate. He's great-looking. He's Hispanic and sounds very smart. How can he possibly lose? If this were the Democrat Party, the party father would probably tell Obama to step aside and let Rubio run, if Rubio were a Democrat," Limbaugh insisted.

Chris Christie: The New and Improved GOP Flavor of the Month

Updated at 8:15 p.m. edt

New Jersey's GOP Gov. Chris Christie reportedly told contributors at a political fundraiser in California today that he is not running for the GOP presidential nomination, according to sources who were in the room when he made the announcement.

Once again Christie found himself having to repeat he is not seeking the highest office in the land. The announcement this time came during a steak dinner for about 40 wealthy donors in Santa Ana, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.

Christie is attending seven fundraisers in three states this week, so the presidential speculation has likely helped fill the events with a donor base he might not otherwise attract.

In addition, sources close to Christie said the governor is sticking by his earlier decision against running, ending some of the rumors that have been flying the past few days, Fox News reported. 

end update
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Updated at 2 p.m. EDT

The brother of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the latest well-connected source to knock down media-inflated rumors and speculation that his brother is having second thoughts about a run for President.

Republican fundraiser Todd Christie insisted to the Newark Star-Ledger that his brother Chris will not run for President in 2012.

"I’m sure that he’s not going to run," Todd Christie told the newspaper. "If he’s lying to me, I’ll be as stunned as I’ve ever been in my life."

end update
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It sounds like the mainstream media is ready for another flavor of the month in the GOP presidential sweepstakes. This time it is New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie who is being offered up again as the supersized savior of the GOP.

Apparently some fat cats who bankroll Republican candidates are not convinced that the frontrunners, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas or ex-Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, can beat President Obama next year.

Christie's buddy, former GOP New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, helped trigger the latest buzz when he claimed over the weekend that Christie is seriously thinking about running for President.

Christie added to the speculation by heading to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., today to deliver a speech titled "Real American Exceptionalism." He also has a fundraiser and a few other high-profile events planned for the week.

It all has many political commentators and reporters frothing today over the thought of a Christie candidacy.

The verdict from MSNBC's "Morning Joe" political roundtable this morning was Christie must run now or forever hold his peace. "His chance is not going to come again." insisted the show's ringmaster, Joe Scarborough.

Christie is a wise center-right Republican who is not afraid to take on his own party, but can you imagine the television spots the Tea Party candidates or their allies would run Christie were to jump into the race?

We would see Christie smiling with President Obama; Christie attacking the right wing over its criticism of Sharia law; Christie saying he is not going to run because he is not ready for prime time; Christie saying family first (that is a good thing, by the way); and Christie criticizing Tea Party mascot and House GOP leader Eric Cantor for playing politics with federal disaster aid.

It would be Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza and the Winter Solstice all wrapped into one for political pundits and reporters, and perhaps that is why so many are frothing at the thought of him jumping in the race for President.

Now, despite the breathless news reports, New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno threw a bucket of ice cold water on the idea, insisting Christie is not running.

"I think the governor is doing a great job here," Guadagno told reporters yesterday. "The governor is not running for President."

Lefties Like What Obama is Saying as Poll Shows Americans Favor Jobs Plan

President Obama is armed and ready to take on the Tea Party-led GOP now that he is seeing support for financing his jobs plan with spending cuts and restoring the tax rates to 1990s level for the richest Americans.

A new Gallup poll out today shows significant majorities of Americans favor Obama paying for his latest jobs plan by taxing the wealthy and wiping out tax breaks for some corporations.

There is even more evidence of good news for Obama, including word from some of his allies who say the push-back rhetoric from Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner is an indication that the GOP is feeling the President's sting. Boehner and others on the right spent much of today whining that Obama is waging class warfare.

Now the fractured ranks of the Democratic left is liking what it is hearing from Obama so far regarding his newly announced $3.2 trillion deficit reduction plan that includes taxing the richest Americans at the same rate as middle class taxpayers.

And that is a big deal, because if Obama can shore up the disheartened ranks of his progressive supporters early on in the 2012 presidential election season it will give him ample opportunity to battle for the moderate independent voters who will be the deciding factor in next year's balloting.

"His problem isn't me or Move On so much as it is all the people who voted for him in '08 who may vote for him again. They probably won't vote for the Republican. But they're not going to go out and bring 10 people to the polls with them. They're not going to be excited about voting again. And that's where it could really hurt him," said lefty filmmaker and commentator Michael Moore.

"So, this thing that happened today is very exciting, and to have him just repeat over and over again, I will refuse to let these Bush tax cuts for the rich continue, I will refuse to rebuild this country on the backs of the poor and the middle class, that is music to my ears. We should have heard this from day one. I'll take it on day 900 if that's when I get it," Moore told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow last night.

One of the most vocal and angry constituencies within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has been the gay and lesbian community. Many Gay Democrats felt the White House was just giving lip service when it came to it's support for abolishing the military's don't ask, don't tell.

"A lot of us were so ticked off at him for dragging his feet," said John Aravosis, a progressive opinion leader known for his political instincts and sometimes bombastic approach to driving home a point. 

But there is euphoria today in the gay community, which has heaped millions of dollars into the Obama campaign along with their support on election day: Don't ask, don't tell is off the books and gay and lesbian Americans can now serve openly in the armed forces.

"It became real as of midnight last night, and it is true that we would not have won without a President pushing for it," said Aravosis, who is an openly gay blogger with a significant following on his AmericaBlog platform.

So Obama is finally having good week, but there remains a skepticism among some supporters that when it gets down to the 11th hour he will blink and give Republicans what they want, without a fight.  

"People are more excited, but a lot of people are waiting to see if he follows through," Aravosis observed. "I have a lot of trouble believing everyone at this point is just going to say, 'Oh, ok we're going to come back now.'"

Analysis: Warren's Consolation Prize Would be Senator from Massachusetts

Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, who could not get past the Senate confirmation process to get the job she was truly cut out for, the Wall Street watchdog, today jumps into a big field of Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.

Warren has a strong story to tell about a Middle Class under siege by an emerging oligarchy whose religion is greed, but the question is can she tell it in way that appeals to the blue-collar voters who likely will decide the outcome of a close election?

On paper, she is probably much smarter than incumbent Republican Scott Brown and knows a thing or two about the new economic norm the U.S. is facing (in which workers are toast). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was her brainchild, but its top job could never become hers in the pro-Wall Street climate that even permeates the Democratic ranks.

Brown is somewhat popular in Massachusetts and knows how to campaign (he was so good on the stump that the Bay State Tea Party thought he was one of them until he arrived in Washington and started voting like the moderate senators from Maine).

So Warren may need a perfect storm to make this work: First she needs to get through a crowded primary field, and then she needs coattails from President Obama (who politically speaking does not even own a coat at this point). She probably could use the carpetbagger ex-Gov. Mitt Romney, widely hated in Massachusetts, on the ticket as the GOP presidential nominee, but what she really needs is Bay State voters to break their habit of giving the thumbs-down to women candidates for statewide office.

Months ago a source very close to Warren told me she did not have the fire in the belly to run, and what she really wanted was the top job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Since then she apparently has had an epiphany (she was talked into running) and is indeed serious about taking a shot at Brown's seat.

Warren has done well in small coffee meet-and-greets and she can grow into a candidate who can connect in the rusting industrial cities that have been forsaken by manufacturers who ship their jobs overseas, my intellectually blessed leftist sources tell me.

The problem is when you look at her announcement video released today she says all the right things, but it sure looks like she still does not have that fire in the belly. That needs to change, if she is going to win in a state that loves to describe its politics with sports metaphors.

In other words, this is not the Head of the Charles Regatta, Professor Warren. It is third down in the snow on the Patriots one yard line and you need to fill the hole with some real red meat, or you lose.

Paul Asked About Uninsured Facing Death & Debate Crowd Yells Let Him Die

Updated at 7:45 p.m. edt

At least one Tea Party official is condemning the hate-filled shouts from a handful of its rank and file who want the uninsured to die rather than to receive lifesaving medical treatment.

"It was terrible... Because two people made a stupid statement does not mean that the entire Tea Party agrees with that, we absolutely do not," said Billie Tucker, spokeswoman for the Tea Party Alliance of Florida.

"We wish they weren't in the room," Tucker told CNN today.

At least three different voices could be heard shouting "yes" or "yeah" when Wolf Bitzer asked Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.). There were also cheers and applause when Paul said it is people's choice to live or die.

end update
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Forget all the candidate box scores and prognostication, the real newsmaker at last night's CNN/Tea Party GOP presidential debate was the audience, in which some in the crowd shouted "Yes" when Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) was asked by Wolf Blitzer if America should let an uninsured man die facing a catastrophic health condition. Here is the video, courtesy of ThinkProgress:

UPDATE: The pro-health care reform organization Protect Your Care called on the GOP candidates, the Tea Party Express and other Tea Party affiliates to condemn the behavior of the people in the audience who shouted "Yes" when Blitzer asked if Paul thought the uninsured should be left to die. Protect Your Care Communications Director Eddie Vale released the following statement:
 

"Last night we got a disturbing view into the Tea Party’s extreme right-wing position on health care when members of the audience clapped and cheered the idea of letting someone without health insurance die. Even worse, none of the Republican candidates on stage expressed a word of disapproval as the Tea Party audience literally clapped for blood. This was a spectacle one would have expected back in the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome, not at a presidential debate.
 
"This moment is a test of whether those who aspire to the office of the President of the United States have the leadership abilities to stand up to the extreme Tea Party elements that we saw on sickening display last night.  The Republican candidates should condemn the extreme and un-American value of letting people die, as should the Tea Party Express and other Tea Party organizations."

Finally Figuring Out Ron Paul is a Real Threat in GOP Race

Suddenly Ron Paul does not look like an outlier anymore.

With an elbows-out cowboy frontrunner and a bombastic anti-government congresswoman who tends to muddle history trailed mainly by boilerplate pro-life hyper-conservatives at the rear, Paul finds himself sharing a stage with opponents who, on many issues, sound a lot him.

The ob/gyn physician from Texas is poised to make mischief in the Republican race. And the mainstream media is finally catching on.

Paul has a low-budget, campaign dependent on volunteer loyalty and well-timed "money-bombs" that net him more than a $1 million-a-pop. Odds are his strategy will see him last through every single Republican caucus and primary.

This week's Gallup poll left little doubt that Gov. Rick Perry is out front with a low double-digit lead over the previously presumed leader in the GOP field, Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of his adopted Massachusetts.

Gallop confirms what a Rasmussen poll taken days after the Iowa Straw Poll and Perry's entry into the race at a conservative bloggers summit in South Carolina: The Texan is the leader going into the traditional Labor Day start for the caucus and primary season.

But survey after survey also consistently indicate Paul has an established base of support that is at least as loyal as the best candidates in the field.

Among the evidence, Paul is the only announced candidate for the GOP nomination whose favorable rating tops his unfavorable rating, according to an AP/IPSOS poll out today.

Paul also polled solidly with Romney and Bachmann in the second tier of candidates who draw support from Republicans who identify closely with the Tea Party, More eye-catching, the same Gallup survey numbers released today have him at a strong third-place ceding among mainstream Republican voters. 

All eyes are on Romney, the languishing would-be establishment candidate, and Bachmann, the previous flavor-of-the-month who is wonderinging when her support will bottom out. Bachmann was at 13% in the Rasmussen poll before dropping to 10% in the Gallup survey.

If the Minnesota congresswoman fades, people will likely discover many Bachmann voters are turned off by Perry and may find a candidate like Paul more appealing. Romney probably can best help Paul by going on the attack against Perry and expose weaknesses and maybe provoke some gaffs.

There are also the backers of the bottom-dwellers to consider. If they cannot hang with the pack, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Gingrich all have supporters who will be looking for a new home.

Paul, for now a sort of protest candidate in a field of protest candidates, has to hold his grown and not lose any of his backers to Perry. If he holds, the feisty lawmaker could find his unwavering libertarian camp a home for the forthcoming pool of available Republican primary and caucus voters.

You Would Think Bachmann Would Know the Adams Family

Rep. Michelle Bachmann is having a tough time sticking to the script in her bid for the Republican nomination for President.

A day after she confused the actor John Wayne with the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the Minnesota Republican was at it again, this time mixing up John Quincy Adams with his father John Adams.

The newly crowned queen of the Tea Party made the gaff when she defended to ABC's George Stephanopoulos her statement that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery.

"Well if you look at one of our Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, that’s absolutely true. He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father’s secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery," Bachmann said.

Stephanopoulos responded, "He wasn’t one of the Founding Fathers – he was a President, he was a Secretary of State, he was a member of Congress, you’re right he did work to end slavery decades later. But so you are standing by this comment that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery?"

Bachmann retorted, "Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved."

This is at least the second time Bachmann flubbed an issue related to the Revolutionary War era. The first coming when she suggested the "shot heard 'round the world" was fired in New Hampshire as opposed to Massachusetts, where of course it was fired.

But Bachmann is not the only Tea Party celebrity who does not know her Revolutionary war-era history. The woman Bachmann deposed as the queen of the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, recently suggested that Paul Revere in his historic ride to warn that "the British are coming" did so to warn the British.

Is it too much to ask that people associated with something called the Tea Party actually know what was going on during the era of the actual Boston Tea Party?

Pawlenty Goes Chicken Hawk Two Weeks After Being Chicken

GOP  presidential hopeful Tim  Pawlenty accused President Obama of failing in his words, "to carry out an effective and coherent strategy in response" to the uprisings in the Middle East and Northern Africa, known as the "Arab Spring."

Apparently seeking to carry the neocon mantle in the Republican field, Pawlenty accused the President of treating Israel "as a problem, rather than as an ally."

The attacks on the Obama administration's foreign policy came during an address today before the Council on Foreign Relations.

It was tough talk for the former Minnesota governor, who just two weeks ago in the first New Hampshire GOP presidential debate embraced an isolationist foreign policy position, calling for fewer interventions abroad. What a difference a couple of weeks makes.

Pawlenty also refused to mix it up with Mitt Romney over what he had called "ObamaneyCare" -- a too-cute attack that sought to link the health care reforms implemented in Massachusetts by then-Gov. Romney and last year by Obama.

Obama admittedly was late to siding with the revolutionaries in Egypt and Libya, but he has more than made up with his commitment to doing all he can to prop up the pro-democracy freedom movement.

The President, meanwhile, is in Iowa today discussing incentives for creating new manufacturing jobs, the Holy Grail of the U.S. economy. He is at an ALCOA plant in eastern Iowa that makes components for jumbo jets. 

And the President isn't the only big-name politician in the state. Maybe wouild-be GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin is there too Palin, about 150 miles from Obama, to attend the premiere of "The Undefeated," a sappy documentary about her time as governor of Alaska and her ascent to the GOP's vice presidential nominee in 2008.

Will Walker Grenade Blow Up GOP?

It is thumbsucker Sunday in the universe of Wisconsin labor disputes, meaning there is a featurey feel to the coverage, rather than a lot of hard news to report.

Gov. Scott Walker remains the focal point in the local and national press, where the question du jour is:

Has the GOP governor re-ignited the American labor movement and restored our deep-rooted respect for the groundbreaking battles against greedy and selfish owners and bosses that have led to better wages, benefits and health and safety regulations (which, of course, non-unionized workers have cashed in on, as well).

“The challenge for us is to take this moment and turn it into a movement,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, tells The New York Times.

But Harry C. Katz, dean of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, says in the  Times' story that he thinks the odds are stacked against a union comeback. “I would worry more about whether unions can hold off the onslaught than whether they can get a big snapback,” Katz said.

A survey of all the polls taken in Wisconsin over the nearly three-week standoff between the workers and the Walker-led state GOP shows the governor is losing the public relations battle for the hearts and minds of independent, centrist swing voters.

Craig Gilbert writes in the Journal Sentinel, "In other words, opinion has sharply polarized around Walker within two months of his taking office, with staunch opponents now outnumbering staunch supporters."

The damage already may be spreading for Walker to other states, where his overreach may make him a Republican pariah, Rick Ungar blogs for Forbes.

Obama Fears For His Own Political Life

President Obama, with far fewer cards to play than he had with U.S. ally Egypt, was cautious late today when he called on Moammar Gadhafi to end the violence against civilians.

"The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya," Obama said in his first public remarks since the turmoil erupted in Libya.

"These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop," he added, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side.

Obama never mentioned Gadhafi by name, but that is just politics.

The U.S. to this point has watered down its reaction to the killing in Libya for fear that the unpredictable Gadhafi might take revenge on Americans still in his country.

"We are doing everything we can to protect American citizens.  That is my highest priority. In Libya, we've urged our people to leave the country and the State Department is assisting those in need of support," Obama said after meeting privately with Clinton.

Domestically, Obama has more to fear than just aggression against U.S. citizens, like the rising cost of gas, a volatile stock market and an unemployment rate that is choking off the middle class from reaching the fading American dream.

In other words, Obama and his brain trust are just as concerned with re-election next year at this point.