Should black conservative Herman Cain be the Republican Party’s nominee for president, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he would not face a problem sweeping the former states of the Confederacy.
On the Thursday broadcast of Laura Ingraham’s radio show, Barbour made the case, saying an election pitting President Barack Obama against Cain would ultimately be a referendum on Obama.
“If this election is where it ought to be — and that is a referendum on how President Obama is doing — Republicans are going to win,” he said. “If Herman Cain is our nominee against Barack Obama, I think he’ll sweep the South.”
Barbour added an anecdote about his family, and how they would support Cain, as proof that would be the case.
“I think if [the election] were today, my wife would vote for Herman Cain,” he said.
“One of my sons — I have grown children, you know — from the first day said, ‘Dad, do you know Herman Cain?’I said, ‘Sure, I’ve known him since I was chairman [of the Republican National Committee].’ He said, ‘Man, I like him, I like what he says.'”
“And that is one of [Cain’s] great strengths,” Barbour continued. “He is likable. He does not give you the impression that he is full of himself, but rather than he is a straight-talkin’ person who … calls it like he sees them. He’s not trying to sugar coat anything and at the same time he is not trying to be shrill and a chest beater. He’s a straight talker and I think that makes him very, very attractive to people.”
Listen:
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