Herman Cain is 'definitely' forming 2012 exploratory committee

Herman Cain is definitely forming 2012 exploratory committee (Daily Caller)
Former Godfathers Pizza chief executive Herman Cain says he’s definitely forming an Exploratory Committee — likely within the next several weeks — to test the waters for a possible Republican presidential run in 2012. Cain, a radio Talk Show host and favorite of the Tea Party movement, confirmed the news in an interview with The Daily Caller. He suggested that a Presidential Campaign is likely, but said he hasn’t made a final decision. “Bottom line is, all of the ...

Herman Cain: Im forming an exploratory committee for 2012
I know the basics of his bio — accomplished CEO, talk-radio host, Cancer survivor — but not much more beyond that. Even so, it got my attention a few days ago when he won Red State’s 2012 “tournament,” topping Mike Pence in the semifinal and Palin in the final. Is that because Cain’s a Red State favorite or is the Grassroots support for him out there broader than anyone realizes right now? Either way, the Daily Caller says to get ready. Former Godfathers Piz...

Herman Cain Set to Form Exploratory Committee Soon
Herman Cain, who I profiled earlier this week, has told the Daily Caller that the formation of an Exploratory Committee is likely to occur in the next several weeks. Here’s an excerpt from the article, including comments from Cain: “Bottom line is, all of the indicators and all of the benchmarks that I had laid out and we had laid out as a team are all moving in the direction of yes,” Cain said. “We haven’t gotten there yet, but we’re moving in that direction.” He

New Jersey Republican seeks to require refresher on Constitution for all congressional staffers (Daily Caller)
The founder and chairman of the Congressional Constitution Caucus wants to ensure that all Hill Staffers are familiar with their country’s founding principles. New Jersey Republican Rep. Scott Garrett has introduced a House rule that would require all congressional staff members to take a class on the Constitution at the beginning of each year. According to Garrett, requiring that Staffers be well acquainted with the powers and limitations spelled out in the Constitution will help to ens...

Fridays Line From The Fix
Those of you R4’08 Veterans out there will remember the debates sparked by Chris Cillizza’s Friday columns in the Washington Post entitled “The Line”. They became a weekly virtual water cooler moment as everyone argued why their Candidate of choice deserved a higher ranking, or why others were ranked too high on the list. Well, Cillizza is back in form for the 2012 Campaign, and even at this (very) early juncture in the campaign (before anyone has even announced!), he i...

Palin on Boehners crying: One of those things where a double standard is applied (Daily Caller)
Former GOP vice presidential nominee says if she had cried publicly as the incoming speaker of the House has, she would be mocked. On Friday’s broadcast of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin offered her opinion on incoming House Speaker John Boehner’s willingness to display his emotions openly. According to Palin, it is a good thing but she questions how she would be treated if she were as equally as open. “I don’t know if a w...

Iowa Republicans launch effort to impeach state Supreme Court judges
Republican lawmakers in Iowa have launched an effort to impeach four state Supreme Court justices over their decision to strike down a ban on Gay Marriage in the state last year.  The new effort comes just as the 2012 GOP presidential primary heats up and the two are sure to intersect. Iowa Conservatives, led by former gubernatorial contender Bob Vander Plaats, will likely pressure GOP hopefuls to weigh in.  Just last month, Vander Plaats led a successful effort to oust three other justices ...

Potential Dark Horse: Herman Cain in 2012
RedState recently polled their readers to see who they would like to see as the GOP Presidential nominee. The winner was Herman Cain. Who is Herman Cain? Cain is a big Private Sector Candidate - he was a former Pillsbury executive and later ran Godfathers Pizza. He’s also a Talk Show host and PAC founder. He had previously ran for US Senate in Georgia in 2004 - he came in 2nd place, but did not garner enough support to force a runoff. He’s a great speaker who, apparentl...

Herman Cain: The Right Wing Sleeper Candidate in 2012?
Politico’s Ben Smith discussed today the unforeseen possibility that Right Wing Activist Herman Cain could be a surprise Republican Candidate for president, after he bested all other Republicans in an online Straw Poll conducted by the conservative blog RedState. Cain, an African American businessman and radio Talk Show host, even topped Sarah Palin, who came in second, to be the favorite of the Right Wing blogosphere. Erick Erickson of RedState writes, “I like Herman Cain and, thoug...

Dannie's Insider Tea Party Has Arrived
Rep. Drew Darby is Standing Up for Us in Austin Social Cons vs Fiscal Cons - False Choice? He was late to the party, originally calling Tea Parties short lived groups led by small minds who should be part of the Republican Party. Then a girl from Wharton came along and he was sad because she had the Grassroots following that he dreamed of. But then he remembered that he is the master at jumping in the front car of a moving train and that made him happy. Besides, he's an insider now, he's...

Herman Cain mania
There's a place in every primary for an ideological purist and debate champ — think Dennis Kucinich — and radio talker Herman Cain seems to be the early front-runner for that slot on the Republican side in 2012. Cain, an African-American conservative with a real Private Sector background — he was a Pillsbury executive and then took over and ran Godfathers Pizza — is a regular on the conservative event circuit and a compelling speaker, though he's little known outside co...

Iowa Politics Insider: Poll shows Palin with high negative ratings
A new Washington Post/ABC News Poll has some tough stats for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as she weighs a 2012 GOP Presidential Campaign. Six in 10 voters say they would never vote for the 2008 vice-presidential nominee, according to the Post survey, out today. But more noteworthy is that 29 percent of Republicans say they would not consider backing Palin. That's approaching a third of the base Palin would need to galvanize just to win the GOP nomination, never mind wage a competitive genera...

Iowa GOP strong arms presidential candidates into Ames Staw Poll
On Thursday, the Republican Party of Iowa announced that the all-important Ames Straw Poll will be held Aug. 13, 2011. The Straw Poll has traditionally been an early marker to gauge relative support for Republican Presidential Candidates in advance of the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses. The state GOP also announced that they will co-host a debate with Fox News on Aug. 11, just two days before the Straw Poll. The Ames Straw Poll is one of the first events on the nomination calendar that can ma...

Palin Decries Double Standard for Female Politicians (The Atlantic Wire)
WASHINGTON, DC – Sarah Palin will decide in a few months whether she's running for president in 2012, after "prayerful consideration" and thinking about whether her candidacy will be "good or not good" for her family and for the nation's political discourse, she told ABC News' Robin Roberts. Palin acknowledged she had to overcome some pretty bad polling numbers, but also would have to be "tougher" to counteract a Double Standard for women in politics. Asked about Minority Leader John Bo...

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, ex-Progressive Caucus chair, thinking of retiring
0 Rep. Lynn Woolsey, one of the most liberal members of Congress, is thinking -- thinking, mind you -- about calling it quits in 2012 after this term ends. "She hasn't made up her mind," Wools' spokesman Carl Rauscher told us Friday. "But she will make that call by June." Woolsey -- who led the House's Progressive Caucus for six years until recently -- said as recently as October that she was feeling good and had no plans to retire. But on Thursday, the 73-year-old told the Santa Rosa Press D...

Sam Graham-Felsen - Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?
In the wake of President Obama's deal to extend the Bush Tax Cuts to the wealthiest Americans, pundits have focused on how Obama has alienated the left. But the issue isn't the left - it's the list. Obama entered the White House with more than a landslide victory over Sen. John McCain. He brought with him a vast network of supporters, instantly reachable through an unprecedented e-mail list of 13 million people. These supporters were not just left-wing Activists but a broad coalition that inc...

Iowas Gentry Collins drawing little support thus far for RNC bid
Three freshmen Republican members of the Iowa House are drafting Legislation that would begin the process of Impeachment for the remaining four justices on the state Supreme Court over a 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. If the people of Iowa demand that the remaining four justices on the state Supreme Court be impeached, Speaker-elect Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) said Wednesday he would not stand in the way. The state of Iowa is failing to warn people to cut back on eating locally cau...

Marrow Donor Campaign Relied on Flirtation, Officials Say
BOSTON — On its face, it seemed reasonable enough: a Bone Marrow registry sending recruiters to malls, ballparks and other busy sites to enlist potential Donors. But the recruiters were actually flirtatious models in heels, short skirts and lab coats, Law Enforcement officials say, asking passers-by for DNA swabs without mentioning the price of the seemingly simple procedure. And the registry, Caitlin Raymond International, was paying up to $60,000 a week for the models while billing insu...

Mass. Joins Investigation Of Marrow Donor Organization
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Another state is joining the investigation into a Bone Marrow registry accused of scamming people. The Caitlin Raymond International Registry has stopped operating in New Hampshire after people came forward to say they and their Insurance plans were overbilled. The Attorney General in Massachusetts is now investigating similar claims. The National Marrow Donor Program works with other registries such as Caitlin Raymond, but the national organization said it has no control ove...

Could This Woman Persuade You To Donate Bone Marrow?
What is this? Natasha Smahlei, a model, works at the Caitlin Raymond International Registry exhibit in October during the New England Business Expo at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. Natasha Smahlei, a model, works at the Caitlin Raymond International Registry exhibit in October during the New England Business Expo at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. The models who corralled would-be Donors of Bone Marrow for a registry at the UMass Memorial Health Care System reportedly wore short skirts, ...

Tea Party and CNN to Host 2011 Republican Presidential Debate in Florida
CNN Political Director Sam Feist called the "Tea Party movement a fascinating, diverse, Grassroots force that already has drastically changed the country's political landscape." The movement's impact on the political balance is indisputable. Tea party-backed Candidates, assailing President Obama's policies and calling for smaller government and less spending, had considerable success in the Nov. 2 election. The tea party and allies like Sarah Palin can rightly claim credit for playing a signific...

Axdahl Endorses Cino
Evie Axdahl, the Republican national committeewoman from Minnesota, has endorsed Maria Cino for chair of the RNC. A founding member of the Republican National Conservative Caucus, Axdahl cites Cino’s Social Conservatism as a reason for her support. In a letter to the RNC, Axdahl writes: “Despite the very significant challenges the RNC faces at this time, we are fortunate as a party to have such a diverse range of Candidates to choose among to lead us through them and on to victory.&n...;

House Roll Call: Bill to extend tax cuts
The 277-148 roll call Friday by which the House passed a bill to avoid a Jan. 1 spike in income taxes, renew jobless benefits and cut Social Security taxes. A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the measure. Voting yes were 139 Democrats and 138 Republicans. Voting no were 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans. X denotes those not voting. There is 1 vacancy in the 435-member House. Alabama Democrats -- Bright, Y; Davis, Y. Republicans -- Aderholt, Y; Bachus, Y; Bonner, Y; Griffith, Y; Rogers, N. Alaska R...

DREAM ACT; Disagreeing with Ed
Over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey is looking at the failure of the DREAM Act Cloture vote and noting that six Democrats and two Republicans crossed the aisle to vote against their parties. Ed writes: It’s yet another miscalculation by Reid in a rapidly-closing window of opportunity. If he didn’t have six of his own Caucus in hand, why press the matter at all? Reid raised expectations and then dashed them, a bad strategy in politics. I have enormous respect for Ed , who I regard as my Blogfath...

Is he going to run for President? (he is headed to Iowa tomorrow....)
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Greta Van Susteren is the host of On the Record at 10 p.m. ET weeknights on Fox News Channel. ...