To borrow a commonly used word by our fellow New Yorkers, “who woulda thunk it?”
According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Oct. 12, Cain, the Georgia businessman and former CEO of Godfather Pizza, is leading the GOP race with 27 percent among Republican voters, while former front-runner Mitt Romney, D-Mass, has slid to second at 23 percent.
This is the latest in a series of aftershocks that have shook up the Republican camp. Another former front-runner, Rick Perry, R-Texas, who shot out of the gate to temporarily lead the race, was upset a few weeks ago in a Florida straw poll and has turned in subpar performances in every single televised debate. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is still emerging from the rubble that her campaign has become after being the darling of the Republican Party and the media just a few short months ago.
Of course, there is the all-important Iowa Caucus coming up in January that normally separates the legitimate candidates from the pretenders. But these current poll numbers, coupled with Cain’s dazzling debate performances thus far, have Romney and Perry dashing to the medicine cabinet to quell the queasiness of their internal organs.
–terry shropshire
