Cain Train Goes Underground

Where there is a will, it is said, there is a way. More often, where there is a will, there are a lot of lawyers, but that is a whole other subject.

What is known at this time is that Mr. Cain has suspended his campaign. He has stated on his website that he has ended his campaign, preferring to put family first.

Laudable as that decision may be, it may also be that his family will encourage him to reconsider for the good of the country. See,  there aren't many alternatives out there. I say there aren't any alternatives -- at least none that are electable and whom I could support with a clear conscience. Whether one looks at Romney's authorship of Obamacare, Gingrich's support for "rethinking the Constitution" or Bachmann's failure to generate any widespread appeal, any road a Conservative voter might take seems to lead back to Obamaville. The country can't live there anymore.

What is generating support -- and hope -- is a Herman Cain write-in movement. In a recent RCP poll, Cain placed third, despite having already suspended his campaign. That is a measure of how much support he still has. This movement deserves a close look, at the very least; it may be the last chance for voters -- rather than media and party 'establishment' types -- to say who will be on the general election ballot. Remember, not one primary vote has yet been cast.

Get informed. Educate yourself on the write-in requirements for your state. In several states, Cain will be appearing on the primary ballot, so not all voters will have to resort to writing him in. But either way, be sure your vote counts.

Remember, this is the primary. If Cain doesn't win the primary, holding our noses and voting for whomever the media and establishment anoint remains an alternative to simply handing the election to "Obama"; however much the two actions might seem to be one and the same, we can register at least a symbolic protest without wasting our votes outright. Besides, if a nominal 'Republican' does win in November, his party affiliation could be useful in pulling him to the right, however slightly and incrementally that might be. But for now, the tantalizing prospect remains that we might get to decide who the candidate will be, and that candidate might turn the 2012 campaign into a real contest in which race cannot be used as an issue, instead of a minor disagreement among two guys with very similar worldviews.

I don't have links to offer at this time -- one site advertising itself as being about a Cain write-in campaign turned out to have been hijacked by Paul supporters. There are at least two pages on Facebook that are very active with Cain supporters. Seek and ye shall find.

Keep the faith,

CC