Herman Cain Lowers Expectations in Iowa and New Hampshire

There were a few candidates who came out of the Iowa straw poll on Saturday worse off than they entered. Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota -- who dropped out of the race on Sunday morning -- is an obvious example. So is former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who won the event in 2007 and skipped it this time around. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who announced earlier on Saturday, beat Romney on write-in votes for sixth place in the event.

Businessman Herman Cain placed fifth after saying a week before that he needed to come in the top three in Iowa. Cain is now claiming that this is just where he needs to be and he will be happy to place in the top five in New Hampshire.

Thats simply absurd. The old campaign wisdom dictates there are three tickets out of Iowa and two out of New Hampshire. Cain has a field of candidates above him: Romney, Perry, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, and -- since he beat out Cain despite spending less money and getting much less media attention -- former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

There were predictions that Cain would be the breakout star of the 2012 Republican primaries based on his tea party support. Simply put, Bachmann stole Cains thunder. Cain is a great speaker but he seems to sit on the sidelines during some of the debates. Unless that changes, Cain is not getting one of the tickets out of Iowa or New Hampshire, no matter how low he sets the bar.

H/T Christian Heinze at the excellent GOP12.