Romney/Cain Ticket?
Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the MSNBC’s hosts of “Morning Joe” today what he thought a probable GOP presidential ticket will be: Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Georgia businessman Herman Cain.
Host Joe Scarborough praised Romney for his performance in last night’s debate but went on to say that his downfall may be that he’s seen as a “Wall Street guy.”
Steele pointed out:
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"I think what you're looking at down the road is a Romney-Cain ticket, the merging of Wall Street and Main Street coming together to go up against Obama and Biden, and to talk in those terms, the overall terms about the difference between creating jobs in a local economy versus creating jobs in a governmental economy.”
The two candidates, while they have their differences, have been relatively amicable toward one another. In fact, two weeks ago Romney let the audience in a town hall in New Hampshire know that he was taking Cain seriously as a candidate:
"Vote for either one of us and you'll be happy," Romney told the audience, according to The Ticket.
"I'm not going to try to convince that my private-sector experience is better than his, I'm going to tell you what I did, and then you can look at his background and make a decision." Romney continued on to call Cain a “terrific guy.”
Cain seems to be fond of Romney, too. When Romney first ran for the presidency in 2008 he received an endorsement from a talk-radio host.
“Mitt Romney’s leadership credentials offer the best hope of a leader with substance, and the best hope for a good president who could turn out to be great,” the talk-show host wrote in an opinion column. The host goes on to say that there are far more reasons to vote for Romney than not.
That host was none other than Herman Cain.
Considering that Cain is running as an alternative to Romney, many voters may have questions about why he had supported Romney previously. Nevertheless, even if no political marriage comes about, the situation seems to be working well for both candidates.
Up until last night’s debate in Nevada, Romney has largely avoided attacking Cain, which is to Cain’s advantage as he is now dodging bullets from the other GOP candidates who see him as a political threat. Romney did repeatedly point out last night that Cain’s sales tax idea might not fly in states that pride themselves with having no sales tax or states where a high sales tax is a major revenue-raiser.
So far, Cain hasn’t attacked Romney much either, choosing instead to go after Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the coveted “Romney alternative” candidacy. To Romney’s advantage, Cain is helping to chip away at Perry’s already dwindling support.
NBC/Marist Polls released Wednesday indicate that Cain slightly beats Romney by one percentage point in Florida and by four percentage points in South Carolina. Both results are within the margin of error.
