Story highlights
Herman Cain ran for president in 2011, before dropping out at the end of the year
Jeb Bush has pointed to Cain as an example of how the former Florida governor could still have a successful presidential bid
Cain hit back on his website Monday
Herman Cain is annoyed.
To keep a positive spin on Jeb Bush’s low standing in the polls — the latest national survey had him at 5% – the former Florida governor has been drawing from history by repeatedly pointing out that Cain was once the Republican presidential front-runner in fall 2011, only to drop out before the end of the year amid controversy.
Bush predicts his campaign will be more like that of John McCain in 2008, who started out slow but won the nomination in the end.
But Cain, who will appear at a Donald Trump rally Monday night in Georgia, defended his long-shot bid, saying he went farther in the polls than Bush has this whole cycle without the advantage of a famous last name or fundraising power.
“If you want to say I had a ‘fall,’ go ahead, I guess. You can’t fall when you’ve never gotten any higher than the floor in the first place, and that’s the state of the Jeb Bush campaign,” Cain wrote on his website.
Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, said he was “proud” of what his campaign accomplished and that “most of the people who run me down have never gotten anywhere near as far as we did.” Cain dropped his presidential bid in December 2011 following reports of alleged sexual harassment while he headed the National Restaurant Association.
“At least I was once winning. Jeb Bush has been doing nothing but losing throughout this entire campaign,” he wrote. “His problem is him.”