Cain Strikes Gold in Western Republican Leadership Conference Straw Poll

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's message continues to resonate with voters, showing his staying power with a decisive win of 31 percent of the votes in the Western Republican Leadership Conference straw poll in Las Vegas Friday.  Cain's straw poll victory followed the four-day Western Republican Leadership Conference, and confirmed Cain's Tuesday success at one of the liveliest debates of the race.

"I thank the Western Republican Leadership Conference for their support and vote of confidence.  There are many unique challenges facing Western states including housing prices, struggling local economies, unemployment and the environment.  As president, I look forward to addressing these challenges with real solutions?not Washington promises," said Cain.

The Western Republican Leadership Conference straw poll win follows Cain's successful wins of major straw polls in Florida, Kansas City, Minnesota, and Illinois.

The Western Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, conducted by Citizen Outreach, polled 552 attendees at the Western Republic Leadership Conference over a period of three days on the GOP presidential contenders. Citizen Outreach's David Mansdoerfer, who oversaw the straw poll, stated. "The results at the top aren't surprising. Herman Cain has spent a lot of time in Nevada and it shows. You can see people reacting to his message about the economy and job creation."

Cain's View on Abortion Policy

I understood the thrust of the question to ask whether that I, as president, would simply "order" people to not seek an abortion.

My answer was focused on the role of the President. The President has no constitutional authority to order any such action by anyone.  That was the point I was trying to convey.

As to my political policy view on abortion, I am 100% pro-life.  End of story.

I will appoint judges who understand the original intent of the Constitution.  Judges who are committed to the rule of law know that the Constitution contains no right to take the life of unborn children.

I will oppose government funding of abortion.  I will veto any legislation that contains funds for Planned Parenthood.  I will do everything that a President can do, consistent with his constitutional role, to advance the culture of life."

--- Herman Cain

Herman Cain Launches Opportunity Zone Plan, Clarifies "9-9-9 Plan" Details

As part of his bold vision for the American economy, Presidential candidate Herman Cain unveiled his Opportunity Zone Plan, designed to create an environment in designated communities that allows production to drive the economy, not spending; which encourages risk-taking to drive growth, speaking Friday outside of Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan.

"Opportunity Zones are fundamentally different from other attempts by some public policy makers in the 1990s," said Cain, "as we are trying to energize local small business and indigenous start-ups to participate in these Opportunity Zones."

Addressing recent questions about the "9-9-9 Plan", Cain said, "We carved out a substantial amount from the aggregate "9-9-9 Plan" tax base, enough to exempt those in poverty, and we will work with Congress to best apply these in a way to break the "poverty trap" and replace it with positive incentives that encourage people to work and take risks in this economy."

Mr. Cain's Opportunity Zone Plan has three key principles; First, empower Americans to achieve economic dreams; Second, incentivize Americans to work, invest, and take responsibility for their behavior; and Third, promote widespread equality of economic opportunity."

Mr. Cain explained: "Opportunity Zones in conjunction with the '9-9-9 Plan' will turn the whole country into one giant Opportunity Zone. Some of the most attractive features will be zero capital gains tax, immediate expensing of business equipment, and no payroll taxes are "factory installed" in the '999 Plan' for the whole country to benefit."

Opportunity Zones will allow employers in Zones to make deductions for payroll (as opposed to income) and allow deductions for those living and working in the Zone.  The Zones will provide relief and reward those already struggling in the Zone and likely to lead to economic renewal.

"I will never support equality of results, but I will raise a little Cain and fight for equal opportunity, economic growth, and jobs. And in doing so, we will empower the engine of American Exceptionalism," said Mr. Cain.

Herman Cain Campaign Announces Leading Iowa Republican

The Herman Cain presidential campaign announced Wednesday that former Republican Party of Iowa Chairman, Steve Grubbs, will join the campaign as the Iowa State Chairman.

"We tried a community organizer as president, maybe it's time we put a CEO in the White House," said Grubbs. "I've had the good fortune to work with Bob Dole, Steve Forbes and Tommy Thompson and I can honestly say that I've never quite seen the groundswell of excitement that I'm seeing for Herman Cain."

"Having Steve Grubbs join our team demonstrates the commitment the Cain campaign has for its state-by-state strategy. We believe in our national strategy, but we know that we will need a strong ground based organization to do well in Iowa," said Mark Block, chief of staff for the Cain campaign. "Steve Grubbs has been a part of the Dole Presidential campaigns in '88 and '96 as well as the Forbes campaign in 2000. These presidential bids were well organized campaigns and that's our goal for the caucuses."

Steve Grubbs is considered one of the leading Republican strategists in Iowa. He has worked on four presidential campaigns and more than 100 state and local campaigns in the state. He served as Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa in '97-98 and served six years in the Iowa House of Representatives prior to that.

"I've looked at the Cain campaign organization and while there's a lot of work to do, it has the ingredients to win. Herman Cain has deep support in Iowa and that makes the job of finding precinct leaders easier," said Grubbs. "Mitt Romney has five years behind his organization in Iowa and that makes him the frontrunner, but the momentum of the Cain campaign is only getting stronger and the enthusiasm for Herman's vision to turn our country around is only getting louder."

Cain continued, "(the 9-9-9 Plan) is a jobs plan, it is revenue neutral, it does not raise taxes on those that are making the least.  Let's throw out the 10 million word mess and put in our plan which will liberate the American workers and liberate American businesses."

Responding to questions from CNN's Anderson Cooper after the debate, Cain clarified information about the size of his campaign staff:  "Let me correct a few misperceptions.  We already have staff in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and several other states. We are hiring people now.  We're hiring people for our corporate office, in all of the states, we're ramping up. There are plenty of good people out there and we're adding them rapidly. "

During the debate, several candidates supported Cain's initiative in proposing a new tax code.  Fellow candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, "Herman Cain deserves a lot of credit for proposing a very big idea on tax reform."

Cain used the broad themes of the debate to discuss several other elements of his platform.  On health care, Cain said, "Obamacare is a disaster."  Cain explained that he would start by re-examining House Resolution 3400, "Instead of government being imposed on the system, it passes market-driven, patient-centered reform to allow association health plans and insurance products to be sold across state lines.  It allows the patient and the doctors to make the decisions, not a bureaucrat."

Responding to a question about US border security, Cain stressed "I don't apologize at all for wanting to protect the American citizens and protect our agents on the border." Cain explained his three-pronged plan:  First, protect the physical border with fencing, technology and manpower; Second, promote the existing path to citizenship by cleaning up the bureaucracy in Washington DC; and Third, embrace the immigration laws on the books and empower the states to do what the federal government is not doing as far as enforcing those laws."

Cain reiterated, however, that strong national security starts with fundamental economic reform:  "We must first start with significantly boosting this economy which is on life support...If we have this economy growing people will be able to take care of their families." Cain contrasted himself to other candidates who have spent time in Washington or on Wall Street, saying, "My experience is Main Street."