Former corporate executive Herman Cain has catapulted to the lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, as GOP voters grow disenchanted with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and remain wary of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Wednesday.
Drawn by Cain’s blunt, folksy style in recent debates, 27 percent of Republican primary voters picked him as their first choice for the nomination, a jump of 22 percentage points from six weeks ago.
“Will I be the flavor of the week?” Cain said Wednesday in New Hampshire, where a mob of reporters followed him as he addressed the state legislature in Concord. “Well, the answer is an emphatic, ‘No,’ because Häagen -Dazs black walnut tastes good all the time.”
Cain in many ways isn’t operating a traditional campaign. He was on tour promoting his new book in recent weeks, and he will make stops between Memphis and Nashville on Friday and Saturday, though Tennessee is unlikely to factor in the Republican nomination. He doesn’t plan to return to Iowa, site of the first nominating contest, for weeks, his aides say.
