Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain tells Newsmax that the Super Tuesday elections on March 6 will be a “defining moment” that could determine the outcome of a still “very predictable” battle for the GOP presidential nomination.
Cain also says Republicans need to educate voters about Barack Obama’s “failed presidency” or he could succeed in winning a second term.
Since dropping out of the White House race in December, the businessman and tea party activist has been traveling the country to promote Cain’s Solutions Revolution, a campaign seeking to keep Americans focused on specific solutions to fix “broken” Washington, D.C., including his 9-9-9 tax plan.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Thursday, Cain assessed Rick Santorum’s victories in primaries and caucuses in three states on Tuesday.
“I believe Santorum’s recent victories are an indicator of just how undecided the electorate is,” he says.
“The outcome of this is still very unpredictable. I also believe that Super Tuesday is going to be a defining moment for all three of the top contenders.”
Ten states will hold their primary or caucus on Tuesday, March 6, including Ohio and Georgia.
“On Super Tuesday, nearly 200 electoral votes are up for grabs,” Cain says.
“If one person does a sweep and gets a large number of those, I think the others ought to take that as a signal and get out, because by that time you will have a very good representation of the cross-section of voters across this country.
“But if Super Tuesday ends up in a three-way tie — they split the 200 vote nearly equally — this could go on for a long time.”
Story continues below the video.
Asked if Santorum can go on to win the nomination, Cain responds: “Personally I have my doubts.
“One of the criticisms I have had of all the candidates is: Be more specific. I believe if he is more specific about how he is going to get this economy going, then I think he has a shot. The same goes for Newt Gingrich and the same for Mitt Romney.”
Cain has endorsed Gingrich for the GOP nod.
“He can still win the nomination,” he tells Newsmax. “I also think he could beat Barack Obama. And I believe that Mitt Romney could beat Barack Obama.
“They have different negatives that are going to be attacked. As long as they deal with their own negatives in the right way, and all the negative attacks that we know are going to come from the administration, I believe either one of them can beat Obama.”
But Cain says he is worried about recent polls that show Obama with an edge over his potential Republican opponents.
“The fact that [Romney] is now behind President Obama, in fact all of them are behind President Obama in these polls, says exactly how hard it is going to be to beat him. When 45 percent of the people they surveyed in these polls still believe Barack Obama is doing a good job, we have a problem.
“We’ve got to do an outstanding job of educating the electorate on this failed presidency. If we don’t do that the right way, [no matter who the Republican] nominee is, Obama could get elected to a second term.
“But no, he does not deserve a second term,” Cain adds, citing “stimulus money to reward his friends and unions,” healthcare reform “forced down the throat of the American people,” and high unemployment.
Asked about the Obama administration’s controversial mandate requiring many religious-affiliated institutions to provide free contraception and abortion-inducing drugs to employees, Cain responds: “We should send him a thank you note as Republicans because he’s crossed the line clearly. It’s an attack on religious freedom, the First Amendment. That’s why the uproar.
“It’s typical of the arrogance of this administration.
“If we allow an attack on the First Amendment like this, there is no stopping it, and I don’t think the American people are going to allow that.”
Cain also says tea party voters are going to play an even bigger role in 2012 than before “because they are even more angry than they were three years ago when this president took over. The enthusiasm is there.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.