How much will Sarah Palin and Herman Cain help Newt Gingrich?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As the Florida primary comes down to the wire, Newt Gingrich finds himself trailing badly in the polls but getting support from two high-profile Republicans.
The question is whether it will do him any good.
Former presidential candidate and businessman Herman Cain endorsed Gingrich over the weekend.
He called Gingrich a "patriot" who is not afraid of bold ideas.
Cain – who pulled off a surprising win in a Florida straw poll last summer – remains popular among grass-roots conservatives.
But he dropped out of the race in December amid allegations of sexual harassment and marital infidelity.
Then there's Sarah Palin. While she hasn't formally endorsed anyone, it sure seems like the former governor of Alaska is rooting for Gingrich.
Palin is calling on Republicans to vote for Gingrich to "shake up" the establishment "if for no other reason to rage against the machine, vote for Newt, annoy a liberal."
Palin has described the establishment Republicans backing Romney as "cannibals."
While Palin says she respects Mitt Romney, she says there are serious concerns about his record as a conservative. Palin says this primary should not be rushed to an end, adding, "we need to vet this."
You mean the way Palin was vetted for the vice presidency four years ago?
Meanwhile, Gingrich may need all the help he can get in Florida.
Four polls in a row there show Romney with a double-digit lead over Gingrich; the latest one shows Romney up by 14 points.
Here’s my question to you: How much will Sarah Palin and Herman Cain help Newt Gingrich?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Now that Herman Cain is out of the race, who else should drop out?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The implosion of Herman Cain's campaign to be the GOP presidential candidate seems to be just one more thing working in favor of Newt Gingrich and against Mitt Romney.
Since Cain suspended his campaign over the weekend, it appears Gingrich has been the beneficiary of a good amount of Cain's former support.
Gallup polling shows that over the past month, as Cain's support went from 22% to nothing, when he ended his bid, Gingrich's support climbed from 13% to 37%. That's a 24-point jump.
Mitt Romney's support has remained steady at 22% over the same time.
Overall, the first ever Gallup daily tracking poll in this race shows Gingrich leads Romney nationwide by 15 points, 37% to 22%. Gingrich's 37% is the highest Gallup has measured this year for any candidate.
Plus, Gingrich tops Romney in many categories:
His lead is especially large among conservative Republicans and tea party supporters.
Gingrich also fares better than Romney among every age group, among both women and men and in every region of the country. He's especially strong in the Midwest and the South.
Meanwhile the Gallup Poll shows all the rest of the candidates are in the single digits. That includes: Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman.
Once the voting starts in a few weeks in Republican primaries and caucuses, it's clear that many of these campaigns will come to an end pretty quickly.
But why wait? The handwriting is already on the wall for several Republican candidates.
Here's my question to you: Now that Herman Cain is out of the race, who else should drop out?
Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
Has the time come for Herman Cain to just go away?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
At this point, it seems like a question not of if Herman Cain will drop out of the race, but when.
But the Republican presidential hopeful insists he's not making any decision until he talks to his wife in person. There's an idea. That happens when Cain goes back home Friday. He says he and his wife have spoken over the phone but not face-to-face since the latest bombshell dropped.
Cain also says he needs to re-evaluate his support and the effect that the latest allegation has had on fundraising.
The latest allegation, of course, is that of a 13-year affair with an Atlanta woman, Ginger White. Cain says White was just a friend whom he helped financially.
This charge of adultery comes after multiple accusations of sexual harassment, which Cain also denied.
Cain's wife, Gloria, rarely appears in public although she did an interview in support of her husband after the harassment allegations surfaced. But we haven't heard a word from her about White's claim of a long-term affair.
Herman Cain, who has been dropping in the polls since all this started to surface, insists he's a victim of character assassination. Nonetheless, he says we can expect a decision in the coming days.
It seems like the decision is pretty clear: Even if Cain stays in the race, it's hard to see how he'd ever win enough votes to be the Republican nominee.
Polls show Cain's support among Republican women going off a cliff. A new CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll shows Cain gets only 12% support from Republican female voters. You can't win with numbers like that.
The poll also suggests Republican women are less likely to think Cain has the right personality and leadership qualities to be president.
Here’s my question to you: Has the time come for Herman Cain to just go away?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 4pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
Should 12-year-old sexual harassment charge ruin Cain’s candidacy?
FROM CNN'S Jack Cafferty:
Herman Cain is just the latest politician in a long line to have a potential sex scandal damage his career.
There's been a lot of sordidness in our political past - but not all of it has been fatal.
Most famously, former President Bill Clinton was impeached over the Monica Lewinsky scandal but was acquitted in the Senate. He went on to finish his second term and has maintained a high-profile after leaving office.
Of course, not every politician has survived such troubles.
Remember former Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York, one-time presidential hopeful John Edwards, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer or former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who made up that ridiculous story about hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was really with his lover in Argentina.
There are many more. Some of them still crawling around in Congress.
The key in Cain's case is we still don't know all the facts - although his clumsy handling of the incident certainly hasn't helped him.
Cain has changed his story multiple times since news broke Sunday that two women accused him of sexual harassment when he led the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s.
But it's unclear how much the allegations will damage his campaign if at all.
There are no polls yet taken entirely after the accusations came to light, although Cain was at the top of the Republican field in the past few weeks.
The story seems to be rallying the base. Cain's campaign says it took in more than $400,000 online Monday alone. That's no chump change.
Also, several high-profile conservatives are sticking by him. They're blaming the media and racism - which, of course, is always convenient.
Here's my question to you: Should allegations of sexual harassment more than 12 years ago cost Herman Cain his run for the White House?
Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 4 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
Would Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan get you to vote for him?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is breathing down Mitt Romney's neck – and much of the attention he's getting is focused on his 9-9-9 tax plan.
Cain talks about this plan, and how it would stimulate economic growth, a lot.
Whether you agree or disagree with Cain's tax plan, there's no doubt it would simplify our complicated tax code.
The 9-9-9 plan would get rid of almost all of the current taxes and replace them with:
- A 9% flat federal individual income tax
- A 9% flat federal corporate tax
- And a new 9% national sales tax
Not everyone is sold. Far from it. Some economists along with other Republican presidential hopefuls have questioned the plan.
Critics say it would give the government a new revenue stream, the national sales tax, while not protecting families from paying more. Some insist it would raise taxes for the poor and middle class while cutting taxes for those at the top.
But Cain insists that while some people will pay more under his plan, "most people will pay less." He tells NBC that despite congressional opposition he thinks he could push through this plan as president.
Meanwhile it's worth pointing out that the 9-9-9 plan is just an early step in Cain's tax reform plans.
Ultimately he supports a "fair tax." This is a kind of national sales tax that would replace the current tax code and all the credits, deductions and exemptions.
So, for example, while mortgage deductions would disappear, the plan would still make overall taxes less for many homeowners.
And it seems people are intrigued. Cain has surged in the national polls. He's also statistically tied with Romney in the crucial early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina, and he's in second place in New Hampshire.
Here’s my question to you: Would Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan get you to vote for him?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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