This has been quite a week for the GOP presidential race.  Herman’s victory in the Florida straw poll, it has really managed to shake things up .., for the better, I think.  The more we have ideas from people like Herman Cain generating conversation the better off we are.  

More on Herman in a second .. we also have Florida deciding that it wants to hold its primary on January 31^st.  This has some panties in a wad in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.  Now these states are contemplating moving up their primaries to be before Florida.  How is this going to affect the nomination of the GOP candidate?  That’s a great question, and I think I know just the guy who can sort all of this shh .. stuff out.  That guy is Erick Erickson and he will kick off the Presidential Power Hour at 12PM today.  Maybe Erick will tell us whether or not we’re going to heavy-duty campaigning throughout the Christmas season.  

Someone else we are going to talk to today during our special edition of the Information Overload Hour – the Presidential Power Hour – is Dick Morris.  He believes that after talking with a Democrat strategist, it is “very possible” that Obama may bow out of the race in 2012.  Can I give Obama some advice?  Do it sooner, rather than later, so we can start to get this economy going again.  I’ve said this before .. the number one thing that Barack Obama could do to get this economy going again is announce that he will not be seeking his party’s nomination in 2012.  Now here’s what Dick Morris has to say about the other side of the ticket, the GOP race … 

If you could feel the Earth move under your feet today or last night, it’s not an earthquake. It’s the new Fox News poll which shows Herman Cain vaulting into a third place finish, only 6 points from the lead in the GOP nomination race.

As expected and predicted, Romney has now passed Perry. Mitt gets 23% of the primary vote to Rick Perry’s 21%. But Cain comes in third at 17%!!! That’s an incredible surge for a candidate who had been languishing at 5% of the vote in most of the earlier polls.

He achieved his new momentum by doing very well in a series of debates. But why didn’t he surge until now? Because voters didn’t think he could win. But his performance in the Florida Straw Poll (he finished first getting almost twice as much as Romney who ran second) convinced voters that he was for real and that unleashed them to translate their admiration for his persona and debate performance into votes.

It’s not just that he is a businessman who, like Romney, has hands-on private sector experience. And its not just that he is black. It is that with Obama embracing the class warfare rhetoric, Cain offers a Republican path to the top for minority youth. While Obama teaches them to envy the rich, Cain believes in teaching them to become rich. As Obama speaks about the importance of handouts and entitlements, Cain focuses on hard work, self-improvement, and education. Obama shows how you can move up in politics and government. But Cain shows how you can make it in business.

You can read the rest of Dick Morris’ analysis of the candidates here.