Herman Cain, the former Republican presidential candidate, has promised an “unconventional” presidential endorsement in recent days, but it turns out that he’s not backing a specific primary hopeful after all,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The retired businessman says making an endorsement would detract from the campaign to promote his 9-9-9 tax plan.
Cain will speak on Jan. 19 at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Charleston, S.C., just two days before the South Carolina primary. He will announce his “unconventional endorsement” — i.e. non-endorsement — then, the Journal-Constitution reported.
“My mission is to help defeat Barack Obama,” he told the newspaper. “I want my supporters to stay excited and enthused. And if I pick one person, some of them may not like that one person, and that would fragment my supporters.”
Cain has promised a nationwide bus tour to promote his “Cain solutions,” particularly the 9-9-9 plan, which includes a 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent corporate income tax, and a 9 percent national sales tax.
Cain said his venture ultimately will have a staff of 25-30 people advocating his ideas. Mark Block, the presidential campaign’s chief of staff, remains his top adviser. Staff members already are at work drafting a bill to implement the tax plan, Cain said.
He said his next moves will be to pressure congressmen to sponsor the bill and to create grass-roots support “so compelling that it will be almost impossible for a Republican Congress to be able to stop it.”
He is optimistic about support from the electorate. “If you go to my website, cainconnections.com, we have almost 400,000 people that have already signed up,” Cain said. “Is that a good indication that they still want me to do this?”
The bus tour doesn’t have a schedule yet, but Cain said he has received a raft of speaking requests. In addition to the bus tour, Cain will continue to appear on television and radio. He said he will be a regular on Sean Hannity’s national radio and TV shows, though the details haven’t been finalized. Cain also will remain a contributor on Fox News.
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