ever ever deserved to go through this. trace: tonight, more than a dozen dead and the infection still spreading. shepard: fox news is america s election headquarters. good evening from new york. tonight significant developments in the republican race for the nomination. we have a brand new fox news poll that shows the businessman herman cain has joined the top tier of candidates. the former massachusetts governor mitt romney is holding strong. the texas governor rick perry has lost some support. and the minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann is fading and fast. here are the numbers tonight. 23% of g.o.p. primary voters say former governor romney is their preerd candidate. 19% for governor perry. he is off 10 percentage points from last month. herman cain just got a big jump after the debates and winning republican s straw poll in florida. all three of those are statistically tied.
getting his story straight. he has proved it when he is talking about tarp. he has proved it when talking about hillary care. he has proved it when talking about vaccines. hey hard he has a hard time getting the story straight. that s just a step away from calling perry a liar. today they said mitt romney has a problem with the truth. anita perry says she thought her husband s debate will improve. it s full steam ahead. shepard: is it over for michele bachmann? she was a tea party favorite. third in the polls. now herman cain seems tore felg filling that role. he has. herman cain s assent speaks to the base of the republican party desire for common sense outsider. he has had very very strong debate performances. frankly that s where most voters have seen him. his presence on the campaign trail hasn t been getting a lot of attention outside of those
later. mitt romney yesterday, joe, even mitt romney said if you really like herman cain, perhaps you should take a really close look at herman cain. do you think folks really start looking at herman cain and his plan that his support is going to remain where it is? yes. he has a great story. he is the son of a chauffeur and cleaning lady that worked his way up from nothing. he had no advantage. yet still he made a fortune by his brains, and he has run several companies. he has done a great job running those companies. he is very skilled on his feet, as a motivational speaker and talk show host. he is a very tough competitor. he is somebody people can get behind. bill? that s what they said about donald trump, what they said about michele bachmann. herman cain has a 9% federal sales tax. the tea party isn t going to go for that. closer they look at herman cain, see.
perry doesn t fare as well in new hampshire. obama has a six point lead. iowa, it is neck and neck between obama and mitt romney. it is obama 43% to romney s 40%. obama has a bigger lead against rick perry in the hawkeye state. there are 21% undecided. what did that number tell us? there s still a long time, not only before primary season kicks off, but also before the general election. it is always important to keep in mind that undecided people haven t figured out what they re going to do. it is why we re having so many twists and turns in this presidential contest. what about herman cain in terms of these polls? what are voters saying about him? he is the new rock star, finishes second in iowa and tied for second in new hampshire. he s had a great run of late.
you will be able to see how he performs at tonight s debate. he is the person that caught all the tea party attention. in fact, he beats mitt romney among tea party supporters by a very wide margin in iowa. what we ve seen is the tea party supporters have vast lated. first they were donald trump fans, then michele bachmann, then for rick perry, now for herman cain. what matters most is where the people go come january, february. as we know, they are potent voting blocks. mark, thank you. thanks, craig. to head up the debate, mitt romney picked up endorsements from former governor greg, and the first member of congress from new york also decided to back mitt romney. michael grimm joins me from capitol hill. good afternoon. thanks for joining me. what was the deciding factor for you in endorsing mitt romney? it is the balance that