Rising of Herman Cain and Falling of Michele Bachmann

Saturday, September 24^th, Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll by almost 40% beating out the two republican front runners, former Texas governor Rick Perry, and former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney. He beat out Perry and Romney by more than 20%.

 As surprising as this is, what was more surprising was Representative Michele Bachmann, who won the Iowa straw poll in August, came in last with only 1.5% votes in the straw poll.

Governor Perry had a rough debate on Thursday, which is evident in the outcome of the Florida straw poll. His stance on immigration and “allowing illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities” has gotten a lot of publicity and caused a lot of controversy; seeing as this is not an extremely conservative view and different from every other republican candidate. However, with the amount of criticism Governor Perry has been receiving the past few days on his stance on immigration, it is surprising that he came out above Mitt Romney who trailed Mr. Perry by 1.1% in the straw poll. 

At least Governor Perry is sticking with his views unlike Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney. Michele Bachmann keeps repeating the phrase “I am not judging anyone, I am running for president of the United States” in this video below, where she will not voice her opinion on her views of gay rights. Although Perry is getting a lot of criticism on his views on immigration, it is better than the criticism that Michele Bachmann is receiving about completely ignoring her views on the gay rights issue which she has obviously never had a problem with voicing before running for president. Especially seeing as her husband runs a Christian “reform program”. 

As Perry stated in the debate on Thursday, which President Romney will we get, “is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of- against the Second Amendment before he was for Second Amendment? Was it- was before- he was before the social programs from the standpoint of – he was for standing up for Roe v. Wade?” Although, Perry and Romney have been known, throughout their campaigns, to stab at each other and each other’s views, Perry is right. 

Do we want a President whose views we can’t make clear of or a President who won’t voice their opinions, which they at one point were very vocal about? 

Although, it is very early in the race, Michele Bachmann’s campaign seems to be severely struggling, especially in fund-raising, while Herman Cain’s campaign and his 9 9 9 plan seems to be taking off, possibly putting him in the race alongside the front runners Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. 

 (Herman Cain on his 9 9 9 plan)

The candidates for the republican nomination seem to be all over the place for this election and at this point it seems like anything can happen. Michele Bachmann seemed to be a strong competitor at the beginning and now seems as if she won’t even be around anymore if her campaign continues going the way it has been going. If Herman Cain continues the way the Florida straw poll seems to see him, and over shadow Romney and Perry who seem to dominate most of the debates with their banter back and forth, he could have a strong possibility of becoming the Republican nominee.