When former Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain ended his campaign last December, he promised his supporters he was “not going away.”
True to his word, Cain’s prominence in the Tea Party has only increased since his exit from the race.
In January, Cain gave the Tea Party’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech. In February, he spoke on the main stage of the American Conservative Union’s (ACU) Conservative Political Action Conference (through the ACU says Cain was invited to speak before he dropped his presidential bid), and in March Cain spoke at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference. Last weekend, Cain headlined a Young America’s Foundation regional conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Monday he lead a Tax Day Rally on Capitol Hill.
Since dropping his bid for President, Cain has focused his attention on warning American’s about the evils of the 2008 Stimulus passed by Congress as part of his group Cain Solutions’ Revolution.
The group has released three “Sick of Stimulus” ads to date, including one last week, “Chicken.” In the violent ad, a farmer is attacked, killed and eaten by a flock of chickens.
Although both conservative and mainstream media outlets have criticized the ads, Cain said his “Demon Chicken” ad is far from controversial.
In fact, Cain said he thinks his Sick of Stimulus ads are absolutely necessary to “drive home a message.”
Cain was the keynote speaker at at Tax Day Rally on Monday afternoon at the United States Capitol that was attended by more than 100 conservative activists and featured Congressional candidates and conservative organization leaders, including former Congressman and current U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), Jack Hoogendyk (R-Mich.), Ken DeLoach (R-Ga.) and Bill Randall (R-NC). All have pledged their support to Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Reform plan.
In honor of Tax Day, much of the rhetoric at the rally centered on the “Buffett Rule,” which would require millionaires and billionaires to pay more than 30 percent of their income in taxes.
Cain claimed his 9-9-9 plan would not make it easier for millionaires and billionaires to stay rich and that under his tax code Warren Buffet would still pay more than “200 million dollars in taxes every year.”
He also promised a birthday present to the American tax code, which turns 100 in 2013. ”Bye-bye!” he shouted.
Despite the fact Cain ended his presidential campaign in disgrace and two non-profit groups his campaign gave money to are now under federal investigation, Cain said bowing out of the race has not changed his goals at all – he plans to put all his efforts toward unseating Obama.
Francesca Chambers contributed to this report.
