We predicted on 5th, at the time when Cain was surging that ”The Cain Train will derail itself with such a force that it ain’t funny.” Indeed, the conductor of the Cain Train admitted today the demise of his journey, and he backed out. Now, reports Politico, the fight for his supporters begins:
Herman Cain’s rivals scrambled Saturday to start picking up his support — though most analysts expect Newt Gingrich to be the biggest beneficiary.
Gingrich has replaced Cain as the latest anti-establishment frontrunner, thanks to his surging popularity with many of the same tea party backers who’d flocked to the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO. With Cain promising that he’ll make an endorsement in the race, his years-long friendship with Gingrich could give the former House speaker a leg up — and if he gets it, an important boost going into the last month before the Iowa caucuses.
Already, according to a Public Policy Polling average of surveys in eight states released earlier this week, 38 percent of Cain backers listed Gingrich as their second choice.
“Cain’s supporters absolutely love Gingrich,” PPP pollster Tom Jensen wrote on his blog this week. “And they absolutely hate Mitt Romney.”
But Romney — who tied with Michele Bachmann as the second choice of 13 percent of Cain supporters in that PPP survey average — may get a boost as well. Before the scandals overtook Cain’s campaign, Romney often remarked on how they were both appealing to voters eager to see business experience to the White House.
