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
"Yesterday in an interview with Piers Morgan on CNN, I was asked questions about abortion policy and the role of the President.
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.
Mr. Cain's Opportunity Zones Advisory Committee Co-Chairs, Jerry Gonzalez, J.D.; Niger Innis and Roger Campos, J.D. are well respected national business leaders and legal experts.
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."
