Presidential candidate Herman Cain says he is not threatened by additional candidates entering the 2012 race for the GOP nomination pool because he expects to rise to the top.
In a taped interview which aired on Christian Broadcasting Network Tuesday, Cain said he is not worried about a bigger GOP field because Americans want a real problem solver like him in the White House.
Relating to his grandmother’s custom of churning milk to make butter, he said of the GOP field, "That's what's going to happen in this Republican primary competition. The butter is going to rise to the top because the American people are the ones that are churning the candidates that are there."
Cain confidently bills himself as the butter that is rising to the top of the polls.
Cain still ranks low in ballot support and recognition polls. However, his positive intensity score of 25 – according to Gallup's Tuesday poll – has surpassed that of House Tea Party caucus leader Michele Bachmann (18 points) and lead presidential candidate Mitt Romney (17 points). Cain's poll-topping positive intensity rating means that he is well-liked among those who have met him and/or heard him speak.
Explaining this phenomenon to David Brody of CBN, Cain said, "I have been able to get the pulse of the American people, of not only what is in their head, but what is in their heart."
"What's in their heart is they love this country, they love the values upon which this country was founded and they don't like it when the president omits 'endowed by their Creator' from reciting the Declaration of Independence," he noted, adding that President Obama did so three times. "Most of the people that I talk to, ... not the mainstream media, they do not want God to be taken out of our culture.
"We are a Judeo-Christian nation and a lot of people want to keep it that way."
During the interview, Cain shared more of his Christian testimony that has been very attractive to evangelicals.
He spoke of his battle with stage 4 cancer, stating God kept giving him signs – from a doctor named Dr. Lord and a nurse named Grace to "the Jesus cut" (or the incision made in the shape of a "J" to remove the cancer) – that He was going to save him despite a 30 percent survival rating. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO told supporters during his presidential bid announcement that he is now 100 percent cancer free.
He is also reaching out and resonating with Tea Party members through his American story of going from humble beginnings as the child of slaves and farmers to a successful CEO of several businesses.
His popularity has also helped his campaign raise funds crucial to his success. Cain said during the interview that donations spiked after his appearance in the Fox News network's debate.
"All of the big money people that have supported conservatives in the past, well, they are now telling me I'm a candidate that they can get excited about," revealed Cain.
CNN Political Producer Shannon Travis who follows Cain on the campaign trail confirmed his excitement factor, saying, "The guy is electrifying."
Cain told Brody, "The voters, the real people, they get it and they are responding to my messages of common sense solutions and they don't care if I've never held office."
