Yeah, Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll, crushing Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. And OK, a CBS poll recently found him tied with Romney among likely Republican primary voters. Sure, he also scored a resounding victory in another straw poll this weekend. And Rasmussen just today released the finding that 56% of GOP voters like Cain's 9-9-9 plan.
So is that enough to make the Associated Press consider Cain a first-tier candidate? Nah. On MSNBC's Daily Rundown this morning, AP's political editor, Liz Sidoti, sniffed "we still consider him a second-tier candidate." Video after the jump.
Sidoti--along with her fellow panelists--suggested Cain merits no more than second-tier status because he doesn't have the money, organization or travel plans worthy of a true contender. Watch this liberal coven of representatives of MSNBC, AP, Washington Post and NPR write off another Republican.
CHUCK TODD, Daily Rundown host: Herman Cain. Liz Sidoti: have you changed the way the Associated Press is covering Herman Cain? Do you, do you increase the amount of events, even at the book signings, that you make sure you have an Associated Press reporter at?
LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press: When Herman Cain makes news, we put it on the wire. When he doesn't we don't put it on the wire.
TODD: Is it different from how you might cover a second-tier or a third-tier candidate at this point?
SIDOTI: No. We still consider him a second-tier candidate.
TODD: When do you say, OK, first-tier?
SIDOTI: Well, you know, I think this is very difficult. This is something that we wrestle with at the AP often, which is when is a candidate in the first tier? And I think you have to look at many different things, including a candidate's travel schedule, where they're spending their time, and not just the polls. You have to look at money the candidate has, look at the kind of organization that the candidate puts in place, among many other different factors. So, you know, we had reporters at Herman Cain's book-signing last week.
