Hotline Sort: Razing Cain
Welcome back to Hotline Sort. Cain's big day in Washington Monday was marked by inconsistencies in his explanation of events, feds are looking more closely at Corzine's brokerage firm, Cantwell's numbers are looking quite good, and Perry is getting some reinforcements in South Carolina and Iowa. Here's today's rundown:
8) Is Jon Huntsman fluent in Chinese? Slate takes a closer look at exactly what he says in Mandarin during some media appearances and finds the answer is no. But Huntsman's daughters took issue with the piece, tweeting: "Any fluent linguist would know that going from Mandarin-English isn't usually a direct translation. Better luck next time @slate magazine."
7) Federal investigators are looking at the brokerage firm run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, the New York Times reports. The inquiry centers around hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer money. Corzine has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but the inquiry threatens to further tarnish his reputation, the Times notes. As Ben Smith pointed out on Monday, Corzine has been a top prospect to serve as Treasury Secretary in the second term, or in another economic capacity, even before then.
6) On Monday, we reported the results of a new University of Washington poll that showed Republican Rob McKenna with a slight lead in that state's 2012 governor's race. But we overlooked some better news for Democrats: Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who will also be on the ballot next year, is viewed favorably by 53 percent of voters, according to the poll. Just 34 percent of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Cantwell.
5) Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., wants to see former state Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp run for the Senate. She appears to be leaning in that direction, making the North Dakota race one to watch. Rep. Rick Berg, R-N.D., still is the clear favorite to win the open seat, but he can't take the race for granted.
4) The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates on Monday announced the four sites and dates for the fall 2012 general election matchups. They are: Oct. 3: University of Denver, Denver, Colo.; Oct. 11 (vice presidential debate): Centre College, Danville, Ky.; Oct. 16: Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.; Oct. 22: Lynn University, Boca Raton, Fla.
3) A super PAC is spending $382,000 on ads for Texas Gov. Rick Perry in Iowa and South Carolina.
2) The main takeaway from Herman Cain's day in Washington on Monday: his inconsistent line on any settlements reached following the allegations of sexual harassment. He first said he didn't know about any settlements, but later offered details about a settlement.
But what does it all mean for the GOP primary? Charlie Cook writes that this will probably be the beginning of the end for Cain's surge, giving Texas Gov. Rick Perry something of a second wind.
1) Split decision: Ronald Brownstein has the results of the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll, which shows that shows that in the presidential election, 44 percent of registered voters said they would like to see a Republican elected, while 42 percent want President Obama to win -- a finding within the survey's margin of error. When asked which party they specifically intend to support in the congressional election in their district: 43 percent picked Republicans, and 42 percent chose Democrats.
-- Steven Shepard contributed
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