Authors: Joshua Cohan
Steve Pope/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Herman Cain’s chief of staff Tuesday challenged skeptics to explain his candidate’s rising popularity despite the spate of negative campaign reviews.
“If we’re running such a horrible campaign,” Mark Block asked at a panel discussion in downtown Washington, D.C., “why do we keep moving up in the polls?”
The event, a 2012 election preview hosted by the National Journal, featured the top advisers to the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates and was moderated by National Journal political correspondent Beth Reinhard and ABC News political director Amy Walter. The eight senior campaign advisers addressed a plethora of topics on the panel, including their early state strategies, negative ads and the role that outside groups will play in the coming cycle.
The eight men interacted calmly and pleasantly with one another for the majority of the hour-long discussion, until a tense exchange occur Block and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s senior adviser, John Brabender, when he criticized Herman Cain for flip-flopping on abortion and apparently changing his story regarding the sexual harassment allegations against him.
“If you want to be the front-runner,” Brabender said, “I would say make sure you help our Republicans by making sure the candidate is forthcoming.”
Block stayed on-message despite the controversies surrounding his candidate. He said that the Cain campaign had one of their best fundraising days on record Monday. The campaign, he said, took in roughly $250,000 in online donations.
Block did not answer questions about the sexual harassment allegations.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
