Mark Block and Linda Hansen, Herman Cain’s senior advisers, tell National Review Online that Cain will soon hold a series of “major town-hall meetings” in early primary states.
They predict that packing school auditoriums and conference halls with supporters will enable Cain to leap ahead of his competitors, generating buzz and enthusing grassroots activists.
“It’s a combination of a retail strategy and a wholesale strategy,” Block says.
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For months, Cain’s operation in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina has been hustling, but the number of paid staffers has been limited. Now, having raised more than $5 million since the beginning of October, the campaign is stepping up, Block says, hiring experienced strategists, opening more offices, and organizing bus tours.
And the money keeps coming. The campaign has averaged $1.2 million per week since October 1, and over 80 percent of the $5 million raised has come in the form of online donations.
Yet it’s the town halls that excite Block and Hansen the most.
Block says Cain has been a favorite of conservatives for months, but with a fledgling operation, capitalizing on his popularity has been a challenge. Now, the campaign is flush with cash, and the candidate has established a national presence.
Cain, in essence, will “go big” — and local — in the final stretch of primary season, looking to outdraw fellow contenders on the ground and highlight his strength with the GOP base.
“The bus tour has been wildly successful versus coming into a community, walking into a room, doing an event, and leaving,” he says. “The bus tour connects him with Main Street.”
The town halls, he says, will be an extension of that political road trip. It’ll hit small towns, too, not only large media markets. These events, Block says, will showcase Cain’s ability to connect with voters, especially those with few ties to the organized GOP.
Block bets that the media interest in these Cain rallies and town halls will keep the candidate on the national radar, stoking interest from on-the-fence Republicans.
Donors, he adds, will also have a chance to see “Cain being Cain,” fleshing out his positions in long exchanges, which he has not been able to do during televised debates.
The campaign is in the race for the long haul, Block insists, even though there is a long, drawn-out primary season that stretches into the spring. “We’re making a real play for everywhere,” he says. “We’re not going to concede a state.”
Hansen agrees. “It’s a 50-state strategy,” she says. “It’s also organic — he’s won straw polls in states where we haven’t been yet.”
In the latest polls, Cain has surged. Mitt Romney has begun to cut into his lead in some surveys. But Cain still has momentum: A new Fox News poll puts him ahead of Romney by about 1 percentage point; the latest CBS News/New York Times poll has him up by 4 points.
“We still have a long way to go,” Block cautions. “There’s some tough stuff coming.”
Block and Hansen, outsiders in Washington, are confident that their candidate will survive. Their national strategy will continue, but next month, watch for a new emphasis on making heads turn in Des Moines and Manchester with Cain on stage, microphone in hand.
— Robert Costa is a political reporter for National Review.
Go, Herman Cain!! (Yes, I've given $$$; and will give more -- small donor that I am, I know that it adds up when I see the article stating how much of his $$$ came online.)
We conservatives need to "keep our eyes on the prize"!! We need somebody who can stand toe-to-toe against Obama in next autumn's crucial debates. That somebody is Herman.
No one else matches him for the gut-level conviction, for his articulateness, for his ability to sway a crowd. No one among the Republicans is better positioned to put Obama in his place than Herman; yes, it's at least partly because Herman worked his way up the ladder from a genuinely disadvantaged position in life, whereas Obama had everything more or less handed to him by university professors.
The other Republicans out there are all either duds or fatally flawed in one way or another.
Herman Cain, may God bless you, and may God bless America again through your leadership!! Keep up the good work!!
Cain has no governing record to judge him with, has not enacted a single public policy to judge him with, has not voted on a single issue to judge him with, but yet some fools on our side want this clown to become President.
OK, he ran a Pizza company. WOW, that would do it, he is the most qualified ever to run for President because opening and closing a Pizza joint here and there or changing the price of a Pizza, or managing low paid employees are the ultimate qualifications to become the most powerful man in the world with decisions to impact the entire country and in many cases the entire world (super extreme sarcasm).
Cain is the Christine O'Donnell on a national level, a joke and a clown. The lunatics in the conservative base and Republican party are taking over. Enjoy another 4 years of socialist Obama because if this clown Cain is the nominee then I am not voting for President. I will just vote for Congress and hopefully we can at least keep the House to stop Obama destructive socialist agenda.
I love these people who think political experience is some kind of prerequisite to getting us out of this mess. It is professional politicians that not only got us into this mess but who are bound and determined to keep it that way!
Professional politicians don't want to change the tax code. They conspired with K Street lobbyists to use the tax code to fill their campaign coffers! The only candidate that would change all that is Herman Cain!
If we get 9-9-9 and, ultimately, the Fair Tax this country is going to see more growth than at any time since the Industrial Revolution!
You might check into Cain's actual background and record--then you would see how far off base you are in reducing it to a little fantasy picture of a pizza joint manager.
As for not having run any government entity, it may be far better experience to have run a variety of organizations that had to deal with the government and its perverse policies. It allows you to see firsthand what is not working.
The hypocrisy of the fools on our side is stunning. The same fools who criticized socialist Obama for having little experience in a public office are now supporting a Pizza guy with zero experience in a public office.
Most of Cain supporters are the same fools who supported Palin. The fools who want to stick it to the so called "establishment" at any cost. The same fools who gave us Christine O'Donnell and Sharon Angel. Well fools enjoy Herman Cain the national Christine O'Donnell. I will not vote for this fool under any circumstances. I do not vote for talkers who throw red meat bumper sticker rhetoric.
We criticized Obama for having no executive experience... You know, thinks like leading, making decisions that dramatically change an outcome of an entire entity.
Cain has over 30 years executive experience. Here in FL we elected a CEO of a health insurance company to the governors mansion and he is on a budget cutting spree not seen in FL government since forever..
Cain's Management speciality is being a turn over Artist. Taking bankrupt collapsing entities and pulling them out of the red.... Last I checked we have a bankruptcy problem.
You want to talk about experience? How about a certain Governor of taxachussets who has increased spending dramatically that the states budget exploded because of his reforms..
Have you been watching Obamas election team, Plouffe, Axelrod and Burton. They are absolutely giddy with excitement to run against Romney... They even say to the media, that Romney would be the most formidable and scares them the most..... Do you really think the Obama camp is telling the truth?
Good grief, Romney s the nominee gives Obama his lock on a second term, bank on it.
Hey Hater-Have you ever Heard Herman Cain speak at an event? Researched anything about him on www.hermancain.com? He's so much more than a guy who ran a pizza place. If you don't like his views, fine. But I for one, after years of the same old promises, like what he has to say. He loves America and wants to fix what's wrong with it. Look at his resume. Listen to him speak or read something his written. Stop the name-calling and grow up.
Right. And the professional lawyers and politicians who have run this country into bankruptcy on the back of the middle class have done such a great job. Sorry, we don't need some RINO from Massachussetts; we need someone with hands-on experience in running a budget and a business.
Cain is a great guy and I get a kick out of Block too. Unfortunately for them Mitt Romney is the inevitable winner. But wouldn't Cain make a fine Secretary of Commerce, a post wholly in accord with his level of experience. Cordially, Bill
I've yet to be convinced. He's our John Kerry, and if nominated, will end up the same way. The man doesn't have any conviction behind his words. He'll say whatever he thinks you want to hear at any particular moment. Witness his flip-flopping in Ohio this week.
Romney, Boehner, McConnell...
What do you think they will do to right the ship of state and cut back over-extended government? With these three in charge, I predict a Democrat congress by 2014 and yet another Democrat President in 2016. Business as usual no longer applies.
Suspend your opinion just for a second.... Now think back to what EVERYTHING Obamas administration has said about Romney.
The Obama re-election team: Plouffe, Axelrod, Burton have been making the rounds on the talk shows for months touting they are most scared of going up against Romney. Red Flags should be flying every which way. Warning signs ringing...
Why would you suppose the Obama administration is out there touting how formidable an opponent Romney. Isn't obvious? They feel the most comfortable running against him. They have hours and hours of videos of Romney to pull from, Mitt flip flops more than John Kerry. Mitt removes the Obamacare albatross from Bammy's neck.
Just look at the warning signs, Obams team has their fingers crossed for Mitt Romney, they can't even hold their excitement for the possibility of running against Romney.
At the moment Im just getting more interested in Cain...and Im really surprised how popular he is with business types here in NC. He seems to interest the "Ross Perot" types from years ago and maybe people have come to conclude a "business type" may be a smart move given the relative importance of Economic issues for the foreseeable future..
Perhaps from John Q Averageamerican's point of view...Romney is a bit of a cookie cutter candidate and Cain brings at least some hope if enthusiasm.
As far as "fatally flawed" is concerned, my modest support/interest in Cain has waned the more that I've watched as he kept digging a hole on abortion . . . it is tortuous to watch, and not just because I want him to identify with my pro-life views.
Oh, good grief. Cain's record on the abortion issue is great. Everyone gets torqued about the Piers Morgan interview, never mind that Cain's response about "family choice" was in response to a question about adoption, not abortion.
Conservatives need to stop eating their young. Cain is the strongest, most electable conservative in the field and his nomination would be a seismic game-changer. Look at the big picture! Cain is the man we need to put up against Obama.
Now that the "super committees" are back in the news, we're reminded once again of the superior wisdom of establishment Republicans and "conservatives" who carried the water for Boehner and McConnell on the debt ceiling deal.
"Let me see if I understand this. The president gets $2 trillion more now in exchange for unspecified promised cuts in spending down the road?" asked the host.
"It's the best we can get, Rush," the Speaker insisted.
Uh, huh.
So Mitt Romney is the best conservatives can hope for, huh?
We've been electing the obvious choice, experienced politicians, losers from the previous race, for decades (McCain, Bush, Dole, Bush, Ford, gosh what a sorry list!) How is it working for you?
Cain is the guy!
Corporate executive experience counts for a lot in my book. He knows how to budget his limited time to focus on what's important. We see that in the debates. (Perry by contrast thought it was important to use 5 minutes of valuable debate time to discuss who mows Romney's lawn).
The things he does lack in terms of political experience he can make up for by hiring the right people. I'd like to see Gingrich at his elbow. Cain as the CO with the vision, Gingrich as the XO/senior NCO with the technical support.
That's a winning combination that will get things done.
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