Cain, And The Cardinals, Lead

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a fanatic for the baseball team to which I refer as "my beloved Cardinals."

Much as when the team won the World Championship in 2006, the Cardinals struggled through the regular season only to peak in the post-season. The ring goes to the team peaking at the right time.

With the date of the Iowa Caucus set, the "Anybody But Romney" candidate that has the momentum as of Jan. 3 will win the caucuses. Activists who believe that Mitt Romney is not conservative enough will unite around that candidate.

At this time, Herman Cain is that candidate. But the Weekly Standard analysis of the latest Rasmussen Poll points out that, on this day in 2007, eventual Iowa winner Mike Huckabee was polling at 11.8 while Romney was polling at 23.5.

Time will tell if Cain can withstand the pounding accorded to the front-runner. Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann haven't done so well.

But there's time for a candidate to recover. First, both Cain and Romney don't have the Iowa organization of the other candidates. Second, I remember Huckabee's strong media and campaign effort over the holidays just before the last caucus date.

Huckabee ran an ad in which he was labeled a "Christian leader" and he did many appearances at churches, as well as events which involved religious conservatives. That may not have played well nationally, but since 60 percent of caucus-goers identify as evangelicals--he leaped over the other candidates and claimed the top spot.